Higher Fives - Cystems

Okay, so My Idea of Fun is this artist collective that releases a bunch of different forms of media and whatnot, like music and novels. I mean, the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the name was the song by Wingnut Dishwasher’s Union called “My Idea of Fun”. I’m assuming these two things are actually connected since music by Wingnut is among the many things put out by My Idea of Fun. Well, the most, or one of the most, recent things put out by MIoF (those initials look cool enough to settle on to represent the collective) is this album Cystems by Higher Fives.

Higher Fives are a new band from Johnstown, PA. They're full of what I understand to be awesome people; I gather this based on information I read about them on the MIoF website and by listening to this Cystems album. Basically, anyone who took part is recording and releasing this album have to be some of the coolest people on the planet. And they’re all vegetarians, which for some reason always makes me think higher of someone. I think I might be partially hipster-punk. Shit. So yeah, Cystems is fucking awesome.

Higher Fives recorded this album live at a church and onto cassette. That’s almost verbatim what I read about it. Once you possess this information, you can totally tell by listening to the recordings. I absolutely love the sound they achieved through this, and it seriously reminds me of Vacation from Cincinnati. The music is kind of like power-pop mixed with pop punk played with a sort of indie vibe. The bass does shit you wouldn’t expect it to do, and the vocals do shit you’re going to have stuck in your head for the next few millennia, or however long the rest of you live. Seriously, you can figure all of this out just by listening to the song “Motown and Gomorrah” of this album. So damn good. The song “Railroad Trackmarks”, too. The entire album, really. Listen to it all.

The rad thing about this release being a part of My Idea of Fun is that you CAN listen to it all, like immediately. Because it’s up on bandcamp. Which, I guess is a pretty normal thing nowadays. But that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to get less excited about it. So yeah, you have everything you need to know. They’re an awesome band who put out an even more awesome album with beautiful atmosphere and whatnot. It’s honestly one of the best releases of 2011, which is saying a lot, because 2011 has been a good year for music. Check them out, already!

-Idle

Higher Fives.
My Idea of Fun.
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