Altered Zones

Tan Dollar's charm lies in its rough, unhewn edges, lending their sound a youthfully reckless appeal. The band's Myspace lists influences including "The Smiths, Being Sad, Weed, and Complaining," so listeners will know what they're in for. "Untitled," off Tan Dollar's latest Cursed EP, seems like it might unravel at any moment. The vocals are insistently nasally and plaintively off-key, the rhythm lags, and it sounds like it was thrown together last minute. The brash lyrics are both frivolous and forlorn: "So what do I care/ if I saw you in your underwear?/ Oh, you could kill/ And we're all gonna die someday." It's that very haphazard, slapdash quality that makes the track so catchy and rakishly endearing. --Jasmine Zhu, Altered Zones

Tan Dollar: Untitled

Pick up the Cursed EP from Tan Dollar's Bandcamp page, or get first, Uneven, on cassette from Life's Blood