Review: Worlds Worst – EP

Worlds Worst
EP

Self Released
Street: 04.20
Worlds Worst = Yuck + Real Estate

Do you ever think about all the minimally illegal stuff you’ve done in your life and how little of an issue it turned out to be? Like when you egged your ex-girlfriend’s best friend’s house in high school? Or when you would shoplift Yu-Gi-Oh cards from your local department store in junior high? Not only did those things turn out to be nothing to worry about, but they in some ways helped you grow as a person. Gave you experiences that helped reaffirm your humanity. They were valuable, even if marginally frowned upon. You’d be happy to make those mistakes again. The new EP from locals Worlds Worst sounds like it highlights the beauty in our everyday recklessness. 

The first song, “Talk,” immediately smacks you in the back of the head with a wall of fuzzed-out guitars. The ride cymbal, often played off the beat, combines with a slacker-ish vocal delivery that sets the sloppy tone of the EP that carries throughout. The lo-fi recording techniques make it clear that the careless aura of the work is intentional. The second song, “Idle,” is more of a bop. A faster tempo, a more recognizable main riff and the band’s utilization of major 7th chords are able to keep the EP from devolving into the dark meandering that shoegaze bands tend to get stuck in. 

Next we get “Blue,” which starts with an uncomfortably nude guitar riff before everything hits at once in an incredibly satisfying way. It’s over before you know it, though—at 1:45, it’s the shortest song on here. The band closes out with “Orange,” likely my favorite song on the EP. It begins with a cool guitar figure with just the right amount of chorus on it. The band employs the classic grunge move of soft verse into euphoric chorus in quite an effective way. This is mostly thanks to the vocals crying out, “Didn’t feel like dying,” before leading into the chorus. Then the last chorus is extended, feedback is introduced and the drums grow in intensity until the final hit. The guitars linger, strings open for a second with feedback creeping back in. Then they shut it down. 

Worlds Worst’s debut EP pairs well with activities such as calling off work or skating up to somebody and asking to bum a smoke. –Arcadio Rodriguez