Crumb have only existed for a few years and are already considered the successors of Tame Impala. In 2015 they met at Tufts University – one of the best colleges in the USA. Lila Ramani wrote poetry in high school and first demos for songs on campus. Brian Aronow, Jesse Brotter and Jonathan Gilad listened to Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd. As roommates, they shared their playlists on Spotify. Four college kids became Crumb. First EPs appeared on small labels, the band played in bars around Boston. Palm trees, sunsets and pastel colors shimmered through in their sound. When their debut record »Jinx« was released in 2019, Crumb had a breakthrough. Festival appearances in Europe followed. In college, they worked on new songs. Their style meanders like the foothills of the Rhine. Nothing is rigid, nothing remains fixed. Crumb’s sound is like a set of watercolors as a psychedelic trip that you can’t hold on to; that pours from your eyes and wanders into your ears. Crumb refers to their songs as time stamps” when pressed onto records. »We’re always kind of still changing things,« says Lila Ramani “to Loud & Quiet No wonder the band turned to water for its second album. To be fluid in thought, to flush out rigid thought patterns, to let the mind float – when Crumb speak of »Ice Melt,« a waterfall ripples in the background. For the second record they experimented a lot. Not just on the sound. »We’d take a microphone, put a condom on it, put that in a bucket filled with water, and then play a sound source at the water,« says bassist Jesse Brotter in an interview with Rolling Stone »so you would get a slight underwater effect that you could merge with the original sound source..« »Ice Melt« is a child of the 2020s, the style a testament to its own childhood. As if MGMT and Connan Mockasin were forgotten in ball paradise, Crumb throws bright colors, smudges them – and crafts a record that changes shape. Over and over again. What music shaped the band, they tell us here today.
Jesse Brotter: I love the Kinks for their cheekiness and uncanny ability to mock the music industry, while taking the songs incredibly seriously. I always think about how this obviously celebrated album contrasts really heavy themes of nuclear apocalypse, human greed, and isolation, with memorable pop hooks and cascading brotherly harmonies
Jesse Brotter: A close friend showed me this album in high school. It forever changed the way I thought and continue to think about the use of reverb and delay in music. I’m not a very experienced dub listener, so I’m glad that this one snuck into my life when it did.
Brian Aronow: This album single-handedly got my roommate and I through this long cold winter in NY. Danced to my favorite track “It’s My House” on repeat. This album can make you feel light even when things feel bleak. – Bri
Brian Aronow: I’ve been entranced by this album for the last couple of years. I love the arrangements – the melodies drifting from rhodes, to strings, to horns, to vocals in a way that feels so effortless. It’s recorded in a way that with eyes closed, you feel yourself encapsulated in a big room of vivid colors or a beach in Palm Springs in the late 60’s.
Brian Aronow: This album is so deeply moving to me. I remember learning a few tracks off of it on sax a few years ago and being brought to tears when I would practice. I think there’s something really special and expressive about how time seems to move in this album.
Lila Ramani: A friend recommended Broadcast to me a couple years ago, and since then I have been in love with their music. Her lyrics and melodies on this album really resonate with me and the synth sounds blow my mind. RIP Trish Keenan a legend. – Lila
Lila Ramani: My parents would play this album pretty much every night when I was growing up while they cooked dinner. I think I probably know all the words to it but don’t speak/understand the language. Her voice makes me feel this specific warm melancholy feeling that no other music makes me feel.
Lila Ramani: I’ve listened to this album a million times, especially when I was first starting to play music. »…& On« is one of my favorites of all time.
Jonathan Gilad: I can’t remember the last time I listened to the whole album, but I probably revisit the first six tracks every other week. The intro to »Eyeless« is genius.
Jonathan Gilad: There was a point during this pandemic when I’d visit my friends on the west side every weekend. Untrue was my go-to album on the way back. Even today, each listen reveals a new layer.
