On Mean Thing, local garage punk weirdos Casual Burn are equal parts danceable and deranged. This album is the sound of sanity slipping through one’s fingers as they shake their troubles away. Throughout this release, the band effortlessly jumps between electrifying bursts of energy and slow paced displays of distorted discontent. On pessimistic anthem “Get Up,” singer Monet Maloof shouts “Nothing for me to do but sleep until three / Roll around and dread that’s all I’ll ever be.” Much of this album’s lyrical content resides in similarly self-deprecating territory. On tunes like “Ask Me,” guitarist David Sabludowsky accents his pummeling chords with chaotic whammy bar to devastating effect. Closer “I Don’t Like Mine” stands out as Mean Things’ eeriest track. Carlos Knoop’s repetitive bass VI and Nathan Bluford’s drums ground the slow, grimy freak-blues tune while ominous feedback and powerful chants drive it home.
Antigravity Magazine – October 2019
This album is the sound of sanity slipping through one’s fingers as they shake their troubles away… the band effortlessly jumps between electrifying bursts of energy and slow paced displays of distorted discontent
