PICK OF THE MONTH

HOT WATER MUSIC >> A FLIGHT AND A CRASH (EPITAPH 2001)

The most explosive band erupting from the indie-rock world since Fugazi, Hot Water Music is exactly what’s missing from the theme music to your life. Forming in 1994, the Gainesville, FL, quartet named themselves after Charles Bukowski’s somber book of poems and short stories. They have since brought a new consciousness to the legions of post-punk refugees wandering America looking for a sound to believe in. And fans will be pleased to know that with their seventh release, A Flight And A Crash, the same angry passion that earned HWM one of the most loyal followings in all of rock is as fervent as ever.

Along their progressive path, Hot Water Music borrowed from influences like Avail and Leatherface, instilled a huge serving of reckless melancholy and chased it all down with rugged, lumberjack vocals and scratchy guitar work. The result is an acoustic motif unmatched by any band weakly categorizing themselves as punk or emo. With all due respect to those silly resurrections, HWM can’t be lumped in with such crap. A unique blend of rock and punk, with undercurrents of jazz and even country, A Flight And A Crash’s evocative anthems are so classily delivered, it’s the perfect CD to listen to while amping for a surf or constructing a voodoo doll of your ex-girlfriend. While songs like “In The Gray” are intense enough to melt the tats right off the burliest punk rocker, ballads like “Choked and Separated” are emotional enough to fog up the horn-rimmed glasses of the most fragile emo kid. Hot Water Music’s genre is fresh, their live act borders on orgasmic, and their songwriting couldn’t be better.

Like their namesake, HWM’s sound grows on you like a steaming hot bath—startling at first, but deeply soothing after a while. -By Matt Pruett