SINGLE REVIEW | HOSTEL FREAKS | SLOB

Hostel Freaks - Slob

A cacophonous rave about staying indoors is just the tonic we need right now

Hostel Freaks – aka Tonic Notes mastermind David Maitland – has built up an impressive back catalogue of EPs ranging from downbeat ambient to modern rave. His latest track ‘Slob’ fits very much into the latter category.

The lyrics to the track were apparently written over a year ago, but couldn’t be more prescient. Only leaving the house to walk the dog, not wanting to talk to randoms and perpetual slipper-wearing are the subjects of Maitland’s sonorous vocals and serve mostly to punctuate the pulsing indefatigable beat.

Electronic cowbells and glistening synth pads flesh out the fairly minimal arrangement before the chorus refrain of “Someone should do something, I think I’ll do nothing” unleashes a cacophonous, apocalyptic and downright chaotic-sounding synth riff that will rattle around in your head for days. It’s as easy to imagine this being played to a room of 500 clubbers as it is one person in their bedroom having a significantly better time. It’s almost joyous in its slovenly messaging, which is exactly the line we need to walk these days.

‘Slob’ represents a progression in terms of Maitland’s production – not to mention it’s ridiculously good fun. This track should be gracing every kitchen dance floor until we can all go outside again.