Audio By Carbonatix
Just over two minutes. That’s how long it takes Cheap Time’s song “People Talk” to embed itself firmly in your brain. It’s a scuzzy bit of candy pop, all buzzsaw guitars, incessant bass, crashing cymbals, and snotty vocals, recalling the band’s ’70s influences like Milk ‘n’ Cookies, The Quick, and Sparks while illustrating a crucial pop-song edict: If you can’t say it in less then three minutes, it’s probably not worth saying. The Tennessee band is led by Jeffery Novak, a Jay Reatard associate who’s issued some spiky psych-pop singles of his own. The band’s sophomore album, Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations), followed up the band’s no-frills debut LP with some of those psychedelic touches but retained a charming, stinging wit on glammy tracks like “When Tomorrow Comes” and demonstrated the power of brevity on “Woodland Drive,” which clocked in at a remarkably brief 1 minute, 38 seconds. The group will more than likely leave concertgoers wanting more after it hits the stage at the Yucca Tap Room this week, but that’s precisely the point — you can’t overstay your welcome cranking out feisty gems like those.
