The Bumblebeez - Red Printz
[Wichita]

Remember how The Bumblebeez came out of nowhere with their kick-ass debut confusing the hell out of everyone? With a healthy nod to The Beastie Boys & Beck, the collective came across like the Jackass cast in musical form. They were the goofy skater kids that simply wanted to get drunk and smash things.

But what made the band so inspiring was their spontaneous, fresh approach to music, their care free attitude & an ability to fuse old genres into something different. Using the same formula takes away the impact of the debut, possibly down to a lack of ideas or simply trying to produce something they knew would be fan & media friendly. Which isn't something you'd have associated with the hedonistic freestylers 6 months ago.

Everything's still improvised & recorded in one-take (the kind of techniques which would have most established artists horrified), but there's only so far you take muffled vocals & a Beastie's rhumba drum-break. The similarities to 'White Printz' are uncanny & pointless, here is a group who could experiment to their heart's content without the fear of a backlash, yet they choose the easy option of sticking to the same, familiar sound.

'Vampires' is shit though, there's nothing clever about tuneless feedback & non-existant vocals poking out from the background. The rest of the tunes are uplifting party anthems, a kind of punky, disco Add N To (X). Amidst the rustic beats & dodgy synths, there's some unbelievably infectious, magical moments that restores your faith in them, namely the instrumental parts.

Lyrically, the band are just college kids mucking around, and why not? But musically, the band are bursting with ideas they just need to focus on them, combined with their obvious charisma & raw prowess they could create something quite brilliant. The vocals of main-man Chris should be dropped as it's his sister Vila which does the band their greatest justice.

Nice release but doesn't realise their true capabilities, maybe the world isn't ready for another slacker group just yet.