Cassette Review: Gamma Like Very Ultra "Germs Germs Germs Germs"

[$5 // Edition of 90 // https://glvu.bandcamp.com/album/germs-germs-germs-germs] 

I'm not sure what Gamma Like Very Ultra means, but it's fun to say.   And I'm not sure why the words "germs" is in the title of this four times but it does make me think of germs and how they're all over us and bad... well, mostly.   We have good germs too they tell me.   Did you know that hand sanitizer actually kills good germs and they're saying it's bad for us because it can also be linked to those BPA things in plastic which causes cancer?  Yeah, the day I learned that hand sanitizer was bad for me was a sad, sad day indeed.   Though since having a three year old I don't use hand sanitizer as much (well, up until I stopped) because I just always find myself washing my hands.   One day I'm just going to wash my skin off I think.

"Germs Germs Germs Germs" begins with the sounds of electronic boop boop boop rock.   It goes in a loop and sounds somewhat like "Puttin' on the Ritz" to me.    There is a wild break down and then a trumpet comes out which gives of a Mariachi vibe.    It's Rush meets Primus and at my very thought of that I also begin to consider this to be prog rock.    The trumpet returns and it begins to sound like a snake charmer.   Is that a thing?  Is there 'snakecharmercore"?  That'd be something I might want to hear.    A little bit of The Doors comes out by the end of Side A and I can't help but think that this is music which would fit right in on "The Basketball Diaries" (one of my favorite soundtracks which I own on cassette)

On the flip side we have whooshes and whirrs.   There is a serious tone to this now- like this music is on a mission and it will not stop until it is complete.   It's between an action movie and "Alias" in that way, as you feel like someone has been given a most vital task to do and this is them doing it in the musical montage.   Tapping turns into high notes and I begin to hear Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" if only for the line "Are you ready for. ready for".    Faster funk brings on space whirrs and then there are horns and drums as well.    As the music grows jazzy I begin to think of it on the cusp of ska, though it might be closer to Catch 22 who is kind of the non-ska of ska.   There are also synth sounds which come out between Moog and video game.

There is nothing I can compare this with.   It's instrumental but even if it had vocals it has no equal.    The music though is between a different level of genres, as I noted things such as prog rock, jazz and even ska.   But the one thing that they all share in common and the one backbone of this music on the whole is that it just rocks.    I'm always up for listening to anything- to an extent- and I'm also 100% curious to hear those artists which sound like no other, whether I end up liking them or not.    This is definitely something that I like and not just because it is unique but because the passion behind it just bleeds through so clearly to me.