Tough Age

I Get The Feeling Central

Mint

LP $16.00

06/30/2015 773871015915

MRL 159

MP3 $9.90

06/23/2015 773871015922

FLAC $11.99

06/23/2015 773871015922

If Tough Age’s self-titled debut was the culmination of four radical adults, I Get the Feeling Central busts out of their comfort zone. As before, this twelve-song collection is built on the bedrock of scuzz pop—simultaneously sweet and ear-splittingly loud—but these old dogs have dug deep and taught themselves some new tricks. From the thunderous glam-stomp of “Chutes & Ladders” to the ominous surf instrumental “Landau, Luckman & Lake” to the self-dubbed “evil Donovan” psych-pop of “Castigation,” it’s a thrilling listen that zigs where one expects it to zag.
I Get the Feeling Central was recorded at Little Red Sounds, the Vancouver homebase of producer Felix Fung. Following the success of releases by hometown heroes Chains of Love, Dead Ghosts, and The Tranzmitors, Fung leveled up Tough Age with a luster of supercharged sugar-rush fuzz. The album’s breadth of styles follows in the tradition of A Quick One / Sell Out-era The Who with the scorched garage moves of “It’s My Pride”-era The Guess Who. Meanwhile, the bubblegum sounds of songwriters named Tommy and jangling genius of New Zealand’s Flying Nun roster continue to hover on the horizon.
As a framing device for Tough Age throughlines of introspection, self-deprecation and ultimately moving past unrealistic expectations, singer / guitarist Jarrett Samson gets his kicks like Dan Bejar or Robert Pollard by scattering songs with obscure allusions. These include the themed area of Disneyland housing the Haunted Mansion (“New Orleans Square”) and a fictional holding company from the pages of Wolverine, Uncanny X-Men and Deadpool (“Landau, Luckman & Lake”). Even if these would fly over the heads of most people outside of a comic convention, his intention is simply leaving the clues for anyone to find them.
“I’m probably the sole occupant of the Venn diagram for people who care about the things that I’m referencing,” Samson laughs. “I like hiding things and I like it when people pick them up, but I don’t expect that anyone will. To offer another example, the song title ‘50 Girls 50’ is taken from the name of a classic comic by Al Williamson from EC’s Weird Science. You don’t need to know that to understand a song about having your heart broken.”