Nice Punch
Hot Mama - The Knee Hi's (Newer Music Saturday)
It should be no secret by now that I love the Knee-Hi’s. Everything they do is automatically a favorite, and I consistently am blown away by each new song released. “Hot Mama” is their most recent single, and it certainly follows this pattern. Dare I say it may be the band’s best song to date!!
It smacks you in the face immediately, sparing no time to explode right into the big, roaring sound that lasts throughout the whole track. “Hot Mama” is like if the David Bowie of the Ziggy Stardust album and the Joan Jett of The Runaways era met and jammed out — aka a totally stellar sonic explosion!
I’ve always liked the mix on The Knee-Hi’s stuff; there’s a lot of layers underneath the main stuff you hear, small details that poke out after a few listens. One of those such places in this song is the super tiny high harmony that holds throughout — the addition of it makes the vocals really pop. (Although they would still pop on their own, because MAN they are absolutely terrific!) The bass line is relentless, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a fire started due to how quick and constant it is. The guitar is pushed to the front for a few strums here and there, giving a nice punch in between verses. I gotta say though, my absolute favorite part of the song is the break where “I wanna be you/I NEED to be you” is shouted out loud and proud. It reminded me a lot of Suzi Quatro’s gravelly, yell-out intros to “Devil Gate Drive” and “The Wild One” — and let’s just say that if I’m reminded of Suzi Quatro, it’s a green flag that automatically catapults the song to number one in my personal charts!
The Knee-Hi’s have done it once again with “Hot Mama”, an excellent track that perfectly captures their unapologetically wild and absolutely rockin’ style. This one adds to the stack of great tunes they’ve been putting out, and if you ask me, it’s an instant classic!
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