[Ball of Wax 60 is made up of a lot of really short tracks. So we’ll be doubling up our blog posts for this one, with two one-sentence reviews each, between now and June 5th, the official release date. Enjoy! -ed.]
Levi begins a new volume of Ball of Wax with a glorious slowly-unfolding bang from Hart Slights, whose “Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski” sails in on crisp-but-relaxed drums and a bassline to die for while disembodied megaphone spirits conjure the ghost of Neruda by invoking the title of his darkest poem.
“Remembering Six” from The Ex-Optimists is the kind of thrilling romp that the late ’90s promised but too often failed to deliver except on secret college radio stations, its chug and grind overlaid with excellent guitar work and, through it all, a self-aware narrative in memoriam.