{"id":74261,"date":"2020-09-22T19:34:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T00:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=74261"},"modified":"2020-09-22T19:37:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T00:37:32","slug":"illuminati-hotties-free-i-h-this-is-not-the-one-youve-been-waiting-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2020\/09\/22\/illuminati-hotties-free-i-h-this-is-not-the-one-youve-been-waiting-for\/","title":{"rendered":"illuminati hotties: FREE I.H: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cLet\u2019s smash \/ To a Podcast \/ Tomorrow morning we\u2019re cryin\u2019 into a Denny\u2019s grand-slam\u201d front woman Sarah Tudzin sings on the opening track<\/a> to illuminati hotties 2020 \u201cmixtape:\u201d Free I.H: This is Not the One You\u2019ve Been Waiting For<\/em>. If those conspicuous lyrics or the mouthful of an album title don\u2019t provide enough of an introduction to this L.A. indie rock band\u2019s style, perhaps the title of the opening track will: \u201cwill i get canceled if i write a song called, \u2018if you were a man you\u2019d be canceled.\u2019\u201d Coming off their promising 2018 debut, Kiss Yr Frenemies, Illuminati Hotties indeed live up to the promise of This is Not the One You\u2019ve Been Waiting For\u2019s title, delivering a raucous, unhinged collection of short, sarcastic, and noisy pop-punk songs that stand apart from their debut. To describe this album as simply \u201cpop-punk,\u201d however, is an injustice.<\/p>\n

illuminati hotties were founded in 2017 by singer, songwriter, and sound engineer, Sarah Tudzin. Their 2018 debut Kiss Yr Frenemies, released on Tiny Engines, saw them experimenting with the popular bedroom pop\/rock sound, incorporating elements of dream pop, noise rock, pop-punk, surf rock and even folk. The album became an underground indie success and fans and critics were anxious for a follow up. In 2019, financial fraud allegations against Tiny Engines began to surface by various artists and Tudzin wanted out of her contract. Tudzin and the label eventually came to an agreement: a cash settlement and the royalties of a future album. It is within this context that the Hotties recorded FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You\u2019ve Been Waiting For<\/em>, a 23 minute self-proclaimed \u201cmixtape\u201d.<\/p>\n

The frustrating circumstances surrounding this album heavily inform it\u2019s sound, concept, and lyrics. The track \u201cfree ppls\u201d is a gritty punk song equipped with a driving blast-beat and a menacing guitar riff. Tudzin howls about the distorted concept of freedom in American society: \u201cLook at the sheeples\u205fin\u205ftheir\u205ffeeding pasture while\u205fthe \/ Dutiful shepherd drives\u205fthem harder and faster,\u201d while vehemently claiming, \u201cWe \/ Want to be free\u201d on the bridge. This jaw-clenching, punk edge continues on songs like \u201cWATTBL\u201d and \u201csuperiority complex (big noise).\u201d Other songs display Illuminati Hotties experimenting with other sounds. The track \u201ccontent\/\/bedtime\u201d sounds like a mixture of Talking Heads and Le Tigre. Parts of \u201cmelatonezone\u201d sound like they could fit perfectly on a Vampire Weekend record. The album is not completely devoid of the catchy, sardonic indie pop songs of their debut, however. Standout track \u201cfreequent letdown\u201d is an absolute earworm and displays Tudzins knack for charming, self-deprecating lyrics. The album is also not without its emotional moments, such as the heartwarming closing track \u201creasons 2 live,\u201d where Tudzin lists friends in her life for whom she is grateful.<\/p>\n

Despite the extenuating circumstances with a label that might have caused a different artist to put out something lackluster and meaningless, illuminati hotties deliver a fantastic \u201cmixtape,\u201d complete with catchy hooks, noisy head-bangers, and quirky left turns. Tudzins lyrics are hilarious and, at times tragic, but the album doesn\u2019t take itself too seriously. While it may not be the longer, polished, upbeat indie rock of their debut, FREE I.H: This is Not the One You\u2019ve Been Waiting For<\/em> shows a promising future for a band with newfound creative freedom.
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: The Beths, Cayetana, Mike Krol
\nRecommended Tracks: free ppls, freequent letdown, reasons 2 live
\nDo Not Play: free dumb
\nWritten by Josh Rubino on 09\/21\/2020 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L.A. indie rock band illuminati hotties deliver a short, noisy collection of punk-tinged songs with lyrics as funny as they are relevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21332,"featured_media":74262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235,3230,181],"tags":[8523,8522,8525,8524],"class_list":["post-74261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-new-music-rotation","category-rock-rotation","tag-free-i-h","tag-illuminati-hotties","tag-josh-rubino","tag-tenderpunk"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/free-ih_illuminati-hotties_opt.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}