Smack Champion share their debut single, ‘Somebody Else’
It’s always a joy to stumble blindly across a new debut single. It’s like finding a pot of gold or the end of a rainbow set to lead you to one. Giving you the chance to get in early doors and truly follow a band from the start, there is nothing quite like that first song. Today’s find was Smack Champion.
With 66 monthly listeners and only one song out, the opportunity to know them and love them before they get famous is there. From the sound of ‘Somebody Else’, the potential is there too.
The downside is that a band this fresh makes it nearly impossible to find much out about them. From their Instagram, we can gather they’re Reseda-based, playing out of old hippie California country as an antidote to the heavy industry of Los Angeles.
But from the sound of ‘Somebody Else’, we can gather a lot more. As the dreamy intro bursts to life, nostalgic classic rock meets a pop-folk edge. It’s a sound reminiscent of an alternate timeline where Taylor Swift stuck firm to her original country roots and brought a rock band along for the ride.
Timeless in the way folk and rock music always manages to be. There is nothing trending about this track that will age poorly. Simply played well, sung well, and carried by a beautiful vocalist.
As if the air of the San Fernando Valley seeped into the studio, it has the ditziness of a Valley Girl. Like the audio personification of tanned skin and hair blowing in the wind, ‘Somebody Else’ is as light and bright as the landscape that birthed it. While worlds away from acts like Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and the chaotic alternative scene that once lived in Reseda, there is a dash of that 1970s energy that is entirely intoxicating.
Every day, over 60,000 new tracks are added to Spotify. We happened to find this one, but trying to cut through the noise is tricky. Thankfully, ‘Somebody Else’ is undeniably a lovely song done well, hinting that a few diamonds in the many mines of the streaming world are still there to be found without the aid fo an algorithm.
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