Cough Cool

***The Philly-stewed COUGH COOL return with their sophomore long-player for Bathetic with 29, and with it further perfect their bedroom burnout bliss. Cough Cool has always stroked an edgy toss of the hair through their washes of gritty pop. This is an act not afraid to embrace a charismatic flow to their music, while keeping things shifty and weird. They've made their pies with flavors of Ween, Suicide, and ‘90s alternative and they taste really fucking good. 29 is a natural maturation of their sound, with all the peaks getting a little loftier. They haven't lost their hazy state, their eyes still tingling and morning-shocked, but there's an urgency that persists throughout tracks like "Misfits 4x4" and "Disclosure." This album drifts a bit, offering nods to Slowdive and Bark Psychosis with "Hail Mary" and taking the sketched out approach with "It's Night" and "Velvet." "Intro To Regret" sounds like a missing ‘90s compilation track that would've settled nicely between Guided By Voices and Sebadoh. Cough Cool is good like that, mixing something familiar, classic feeling, nostalgic—but not specific. We're greeted by as much lo-fi ‘90s brilliance as we are with alternative rock radio influence and a massive smooch in the direction of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Spiritualized. They never settle in the past with their sound or their influences, and so they manage to enhance their own style with the sound of something very modern that belongs in 2013. Cough Cool brewed a sound that was entirely their own when they stepped onto the scene back in ‘09, and they've been honing that sound til this very moment, and it's on absolute display with 29, a beautiful album that is streaked with a variety of stylistic shifts and influences that has been smeared into a perfect and original creation. Includes a download and insert.