#wearebigups

The song starts off strong but fails to keep things moving. We get an intro that we’re all pretty used to hearing by now: song starts out with either a bass or guitar line with drums backing it up for a few bars, and then after some build up, the rest of the band kicks in. Pretty common, pretty awesome. The problem with the way Big Ups have done it in this song lies in the mixing. The bass starts off really loud and confident, but when it comes time for the rest of the band to jump in, the guitars are mixed too low and the whole thing sort of falls flat on its face. In a way, this backfires to the point that song actually seems to get quieter.

 The thing that separates Big Ups from other hardcore bands is that they have a pretty diverse sound and often do a good job of adding elements to their songs that break up the monotony that a lot of other bands in the genre face. “Capitalized” does this by cutting to a softer bridge section that really saves it from being a potentially repetitive track. They use this as  launching point to have another build into the main riff, and between the two parts there is enough juxtaposition between the two parts to actually make it work, mixing and all. 

Problems aside, with this new single Big Ups continues to be one of more interesting punk bands around. For those of you who are unfamiliar, I highly suggest checking out their back catalog and trying to catch one of their many shows coming up. “Capitalized” is certainly not the band’s best work to date, but the fact remains that their lower points are far and away more dynamic than most.