Sundowners

Sundowners: Sundowners [7-inch]Sundowners [7-inch] (2012)
Dirt Cult Records

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

Contributed by: Rich27Rich27
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on September 7th 2012Well, it's becoming fairly obvious that anything that comes out on Dirt Cult Records should be taken seriously if you're a fan of punk that contains a measure of pop, a hint of oomph and a sack full of melody, whilst maintaining that touch of individuality that saves the label from becoming pigeonho.

Well, it's becoming fairly obvious that anything that comes out on Dirt Cult Records should be taken seriously if you're a fan of punk that contains a measure of pop, a hint of oomph and a sack full of melody, whilst maintaining that touch of individuality that saves the label from becoming pigeonholed. Sundowners, from Minneapolis, Minn., deliver four tracks that have all of those elements and combine them to produce a sound that, as crazy as it might seem, is kind of frantic whilst being laid back.

The guitars on this record contain a bit more jangle than fuzz, and in doing so allow the songs to come across with a more laid back feel, without really losing the enjoyable, mid-paced approach from start to finish. The other noticeable element of the guitars is a reliance more on notes over thrashing chords, allowing the melodies to flow throughout. As with other releases on the label, there is a lo-fi quality to the recording but again there is a dichotomy to be found in that the sound has moments of clarity that belies such an approach.

Opening with the slightly discordant riff of "Can You Help Me Get My Thai On," it takes only seconds before my head is nodding along and refrains quickly learned to sing along to the record with. This formula, of easy listening and drawing one in an effortless manner, carries on for each subsequent track, finally arriving at "CN-END," my highlight of the single which, as the titles hints at, is an attack on what might be considered newsworthy these days along with its delivery to the masses.

Whether intentional or not, this release has a summer feel to it which will always be imprinted in my head, so whenever I listen to it, I'll be transported to days of warmth and general well-being (despite the fact that it's been one of the wettest summers on record here in the U.K.) which are the perfect match for all of the songs. Now to purchase the Sundowners album, Gnome and Glacier, for, hopefully, more of the same enjoyable music.

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

sundowners (October 31, 2012)

I think you guys should be more concerned that Sundowner is from Chicago and there is a band called The Sundowners that were country legends back in the day during the 1960's also from Chicago. He probs never hears the end of that one. :( I do like that baseball song Sundowner has.

dirtcult (September 13, 2012)

I usually don't weigh in on these things but this "controversy" is silly. And those tweets are even sillier. The Green Days? The Madonas? Come on...is it really that hard to believe that a band was formed without knowledge of your underground punk band's existence? Sundowners has been a well established band for quite sometime. They released an LP/CD on Dirt Cult years ago (the first LP i ever did on the label actually). They did a US tour with my old band Shang-A-Lang shortly after and have done several tours before and since. When that first record were released myself and the band weren't even aware of the existence of Sundowner. To see a bunch of people up in arms now is just laughable...

NeverBeAMachine (September 11, 2012)

@sundowners: That's cool that you guys are thinking about changing it. The sooner the better, IMO, unless you want to have to keep explaining it to pompous morons like me. But I'm not the only one that thinks it's kinda lame. Yosco (The Holy Mess) tweeted this to Chris (Sundowner) about the whole thing:

Yosco: "Yo @SUNDOWNERMUSIC there's a band called "Sundowners" now? Glad to see they're keeping things original."

Chris: "@fucktheholymess Time to throw in the towel I guess... Maybe I'll just change my name to The Holy Messes, The Green Days... or Madonnas"

For the sake of originality (regardless of who thought of it first), it'd be a good idea to make the change. I listened to the 7", and while it's too indie for my taste, I still recognize that it is good music. I think a lot of people have knee-jerk reactions like mine when they first hear about you guys. Do what you want, obviously. But that's my 2 cents.

eatbicycles (September 9, 2012)

thank you for explaining, sundowners. pompous comments rescinded. rock on.

RadToTheMax (September 9, 2012)

Band rules, 7" rules.

jizzo (September 8, 2012)

Another slammer release by Dirt Cult Records! Those guys are on fire and this band is really undervalued, their LP "Gnome & Glaicer" is out of this world. It's a fantastic record from start to finish. As for the douchebags on here complaining about their name or whatever, you guys really need to get a life and or a job and quit spending your every waking hour on punknews.org

sundowners (September 8, 2012)

It's kind of a bummer. We started in 2006 which was the same time that dude Sundowner started.He got big, we haven't.We might actually change the band name though and take the approach of calling our next LP "sundowners" and put the new name on top. This has been an ongoing problem for sure but it is funny when people come out to see him and then see us.

mikexdude (September 7, 2012)

Some guy from a band I don't like started a project (whose fanbase probably consists only of people who post on this website) who not only isn't really that great, they're not even that notable. I'm being told that band is a reason why this band can't have a name? I think I'll give this band a shot just because.

lmchc (September 7, 2012)

fuck. the dude from larry arms has clones?

that's some boys from brazil, brah.

xaviersinclair (September 7, 2012)

Yeah, there's another established midwestern punk related project with this name. There's really no excuse for this kind of shitty re-appropriation, what with things like Google existing and all. Get a new band name, dorks.

MN_DrNick (September 7, 2012)

Is the guy below me serious?

NeverBeAMachine (September 7, 2012)

Their hijacking of Chris McCauhgan's side project's name reminds me of when Vanilla Ice defended his hijacking of "Under Pressure":

"No, it wasn't the same music. Their's went 'dun-dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun' and mine went 'dun-dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun sssst'. The 'sssst' makes it different!"

eatbicycles (September 7, 2012)

Why can't bands just think up their own names? Fuck you, bands. I love you, bands.