Review: Small Black – EP

Although Stylus has gone half a year without a single Pitchfork mention, it’s nearly impossible to write a review of this album without doing so—it was about a year ago that P4K (barf) hyped up the track “Despicable Dogs,” basically putting Small Black on everyone’s radar. The core duo was then joined up by two Pitchfork TV contributors to fill out their sound for live shows and a seven-point-nothing was given hastily to this EP just to throw the conspiracy theorists off the scent (in my humble opinion). The lead-off track “Despicable Dogs” is downright loveable and will instantly shoot doses of nostalgia into listeners’ hearts, but the rest of EP (including two bonus tracks for this reissue) doesn’t quite hold up the same standard of songwriting. But that doesn’t mean they’re not good—they just pale in comparison. The rest of EP is full of drum machines and distorted toy keyboards in a fashion similar to Think About Life, Miracle Fortress, or Not Animals. All of which scream Stylus rather than Pitchfork, anyways. (Jagjaguwar, www.jagjaguwar.com) Taylor Burgess