Download: The So So Glos, “Lindy Hop”



Scruffy Brooklyn four-piece So So Glos are best known for their DIY sound (they’re always the quickest to play a pop-up acoustic show in a subway station) and their DIY attitudes (dudes used to literally live in the Market Hotel). The band is a snapping, snappy counterpart to the whole Beets/Knight School/Boogie Boarder no-fi Brooklyn pop scene, with a little more Clash and Billy Bragg bulging from their record collections. But the boys clean up nice too, as evidenced by their third release, the 13-minute EP Low Back Chain Shift (due October 12 via Green Owl); a three-day recording session at Rare Book Room tightened up their ragged fringes without exactly sacrificing them, either. Raging closer “Lindy Hop” is almost a cousin to Vampire Weekend’s “Cousins,” with the feral-bubblegum vibe of Supergrass or the Libertines; download it below.

Download: [audio-1]

What is “Lindy Hop” about?

Alex Levine, vocals/bass: It’s a song that positions itself against pretension inside us all. I like to think of it as a song that searches for the last bits of the soul in a world that went cash. The Lindy Hop is a dance that originated here in Harlem. It was later cleaned up for a mainstream audience. Sold back.

What inspired it?

Alex Levine: The dance itself–the rhythm, the movement–there’s a lot of stuff in there somewhere.
Zach Staggers, drums: It just kind of happened. All the music we play starts off with all of us in a room playing. We’ve been writing like that our whole lives. It’s a cosmic thing, kind of.

What about the spazzy sax solo in the middle?

Alex Levine: It’s a freak-out. We wanted people to really lose themselves, get lost. Our friend Carrie-Anne Murphy played the sax while we flung our arms around.

What’s the most memorable show you’ve played in New York City?

Alex Levine: Shea Stadium on New Year’s was a raucous time. The Market Hotel had some great times…
Zach Staggers: We’ve also played places like the Armory uptown. We got shut down. It was an art exhibit on the history of protest. Pretty, pretty, pretty ironic.

What’s your favorite place to eat in Brooklyn?

Ryan Levine, guitar/vocals: Bagel Boy, Bay Ridge. Best everything bagels ever. Scallion cream cheese, bro.
