Mope Grooves

I discovered Mope Grooves,randomly searching Portland tag on bandcamp, when looking for bands to play with and I believe "Desire" had just came out. I thought they sounded dope, and made a mental note to listen to whole record after I had finished looking for more bands. I spaced, and forgot to listen to the rest of the record, but than couple weeks later my husband came acorss it, and we both fell in love with it. Its pretty rare that my husband likes "new" bands, so over course of a few months we worked through the rest of their discography. What we discovered is that Mope Grooves is quietly one of the most exciting bands in DIY rock/punk over last 5 years. The reference points on "Joy" and "Vanished " are easy to spot at first : The Raincoats, The Clean, Velvet Underground, Big Star and at times The Kinks (which their label is named after my favorite Kinks "See My Friends"), and yet they distill it in a way that is very much their own. "The Waves" is, imo kind of a transitional record, you can hear new sounds and ideas being folded into the mix, the excitement is overflowing. The centerpiece of the LP "Wave 2" has such a bizarre feel, the guitar drone is disorienting, played so hard its this buzzing stab and its pinned against these gentle keys/synth, that sound like someone is trying to contact you from a different reality, its just a GREAT. The whole LP is bursting w fascination, especially w organs and 60s pysch pop. As their evolution continues to their latest release "Desire" they are becoming more and more experimental. I cannot be certain but it feels like they are listening to older/current experimental electronic music, jazz and still have The Raincoats as a touch stone. I wouldn't be surprised if early Aphex Twin was apart of their diet sonically around this time. With "Desire" they shed being a guitar band, focusing on synths, and the rhythmic pulse. Eveything is about the percussion, they create so many interesting grooves, that are fun, feelwheeling but complex, clever and sure of themselves. I cannot recommend this LP enough, IT'S SO DAMN GOOD. So, ya Mope Grooves, they rule, and you should take sometime to listen to their so far EXCELLENT discography. I'm so excited to hear what they do next. Enjoy

https://mopegrooves.bandcamp.com/music