Baby Ghosts - Let's Always Hang Out Together, Okay?
(2012 Self-Released)
"If you aren't afraid to admit you still play video games and watch cartoons, Let's Always Hang Out Together, Okay? begs to be purchased."
With Halloween only days away, now seems the most appropriate time to post about the spookiest release of 2012, which also happens to be one of my favorite albums of the year. Baby Ghosts' debut LP, Let's Always Hang Out Together, Okay?, is a DIY album in the truest sense of the world. Raising over a thousand bucks via Kickstarter to fund its creation, the album is completely self-produced and released. This independent attitude only adds fuel to Baby Ghosts' gritty garage rock aesthetic, taking influence from old-school indie bands like Descendents and Black Tambourine while still maintaining a fresh, poppy feel.
Charging along along at a frenetic pace, stopping and starting at will, "Ghost Girlfriend" opens the album with energy that's sure to get one's pulse racing. Even if Karly Zobrist's vocals didn't bear a striking resemblance to those of Cassie Ramone, the band's cavernous distortion and twee-ish harmonies are worthy of comparison to the Vivian Girls. "Ghost School" and "The Ghost of Your Personality" also could be grouped in the ever expanding girl-punk genre.
If it hasn't become apparent already, this band has a strange obsession with ghosts. Almost every track title includes the word "ghost", and that's not even the tip of Baby Ghosts' quirky, anime-punk iceberg. They let their geek flag fly proudly, adding arcade sound effects to the beginning of "Ghost Next Door", writing lyrics poking fun at physicist Stephen Hawking and preforming Adventure Time cover songs on their Youtube page. If you aren't afraid to admit you still play video games and watch cartoons, Let's Always Hang Out Together, Okay? begs to be purchased. Experience the nerdy magic below.
