Caveman: CoCo Beware

Ryan Reed on November 21, 2011

Self-released

With a wicked two-note bass pulse and the brutal, click-clack clutter of two percussionists, CoCo Beware’s standout track “A Country’s King of Dreams” briefly makes NYC psych-pop quintet Caveman sound sort of like their band name. But a prehistoric beast could not have crafted the lazy-n-lovely vocal harmonies that waft through the track’s sticky-sweet chorus. Strikingly simple and devastatingly gorgeous, “A Country’s King” is far better than anything else on Coco Beware, their debut full-length. Like any good Caveman, they’ve got stones – everything sounds unfashionably loose, as if recorded in a live huddle around a solitary mic; on the glazed-over psych-pop of “Decide,” you can feel the mist wafting off the homely snare and strangled strum. But CoCo’s more style than substance, and there ain’t much meat on its bones.

Artist: Caveman
Album: CoCo Beware