Music will save us all.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Crushing Dreams: Show Me Tiger! – Don’t Need My Sleeves
I hate to sound like a jerk, but I was kind of hoping for the first “Crushing Dreams” post that I would actually get to crush someone’s dreams.
Alas, Show Me Tiger! did not afford me that opportunity. It pains me to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This is truly indie hip-hop at its finest, stretching outside the traditional mold and providing enough late 80’s early 90’s references to make even the most ardent white person feel like they can “dig it.” In fact, it is this mixture of old-school syntax with contemporary beats and samples that makes this group so compelling.
“Cover My Shift” is an ethereal journey of co-worker pleading to cover a shift as opposed to calling in sick. The samples sound drug-induced, spacey, single-minded—which is exactly the kind of thing we like here at CriticalAsshole.com. The lead vocalist has a female-kiddish quality which is particularly charming and original in a male-dominated musical genre.
“Long Slow Cardio” reminds me of some 80’s gym out of Beverly Hills Cop 2. It’s delightfully gross with SMT! demanding that I “Love me ‘til I lose my fat then love me ‘til I gain it back.”
“Puffy Vest” espouses the benefits of, you guessed it, a puffy vest. It’s simple, catchy and I like it. I too, like to “wear my puffy vest no matter the weather.”
Typically, what is missing from any sort of unsigned band (and this will probably my most popular criticism in this section) is any sort of sense of humor. Those of us who remember how bad the late 90’s were for music (the rise of excessive L.A. music) remember that the self-righteous and self-indulgent groups that were popular during this time were funny, but only because their feelings were so goddamned important. Show Me Tiger! succeeds in part because of the snarky and self-aware lyricists. Combine that with drum samples created on pawn show treasures and you have a recipe for success.
Check out Show Me Tiger! on their MySpace, their Facebook, or harass them to actually make some music available to purchase.
