Texas and Japan team up for a trans-pacific, 2 man summertime pop explosion! Lost Balloons - Hey Summer by Dirtnap Records Lost Balloons are Jeff Burke (Radioactivity, Marked Men, etc etc) and Yusuke Okada (of Japan’s incredible Suspicious Beasts). Hey Summer is their 2nd album, following 2015’s self-titled debut on German’s Alien Snatch Records. (one of the few Marked Men-related records of recent years that Dirtnap DIDN’T put out!) The 2 play all the instruments (although there is a live lineup as well) and split singing/songwriting duties. Hey Summer works fantastically well as an ALBUM, meant to be listened to from start-to-finish. Wistful, sunshiney 60’s-inspired pop with a bit of 80’s college rock jangle and even a little modern garage/Americana twang, Hey Summer represents a pretty big departure from a normal Jeff Burke project. (and although it’s sonically a LITTLE closer to Okada’s Suspicious Beasts, it veers farther afield of his normal songwriting comfort zone as well) Jeff says that this album is probably the least “punk” record he’s ever done. We would agree, but don’t think that that is a bad thing. Rather it confirms what we’ve long suspected: That these two can master any genre that they tackle, and make it fully their own. ------------ warm as a summer breeze, power pop essentials from the duo Yusuke Okada (Japan) of Suspicious Beasts and Jeff Burke (Texas) of Marked Men, Radioactivity, the two playing all instruments and splitting the songwriting/singing duties. (And Okada does the cool sleeve artwork.) You can clearly hear elements of both of these two artists’ home states in these records, arguably more than their other bands. In fact, some of the most powerful moments clearly seem a one-of-a-kind blending of not just these two artists but of music traditions of Texas and Japan. And if you listen carefully through the punk of these two Lost Balloons' records (or lots of punk records) you can hear the pop that is clearly on display here. like everything these two have done, these are gems, shining like the summer sun. -- winch
