Eyes & Ears/Snake Mountain

Instead of appropriating an early-punk-rock singles aesthetic, these bands apparently decided to go further back and dispense with the artwork entirely for a visual result akin to an old garage-rock 45. Which is fitting, considering that the nervy power pop of "I Buried My Heart Under Bar Bar (Then Burned...

By Tom Murphy

May 25, 2011

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Instead of appropriating an early-punk-rock singles aesthetic, these bands apparently decided to go further back and dispense with the artwork entirely for a visual result akin to an old garage-rock 45. Which is fitting, considering that the nervy power pop of "I Buried My Heart Under Bar Bar (Then Burned It Down to the Ground)," by Eyes & Ears, sounds like it was recorded off the cuff from a rehearsal session in a garage without the band's knowledge. The Snake Mountain side of the split has the band shedding its stoner-rock beginnings on "Defend Colfax," which references "waiting for the Number 15." Rather than its former sludgy riffs, Snake Mountain seems to be channeling T. Rex, but with more snarl.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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