Junk Culture

Junk Culture

[wpaudio url=”https://americansongwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/01-Summer-Friends.mp3″ text=”Junk Culture – Summer Friends” dl=”0″]

Oxford, Mississippi inspired Junk Culture’s Deepak Mantena’s eclectic sense of sound, and there’s plenty of the swirling weirdness of the South on his new EP, Summer Friends. While Junk Culture’s 2009 debut full-length, West Coast, leaned a little more toward experimental dance samples and loops – the title track explores long sections of tiny vocal loops to dizzying effect – the new EP is pure pop pleasure. Mantena employs some of the vibe and vocal phrasing of Feels or Sung Tongs-era Animal Collective, but also picks up on the ecstatic pop of Merriweather, leaving the sometimes-abrasive West Coast behind. “Who knows where summer friends will go when it’s spring,” sings Mantena, in an Avey Tare warble, amid a jazzy little piano figure, a myriad of rhythms, and arpeggiating synths.

Junk Culture will tour with label mate Girl Talk for a month this February and March, playing major venues like Terminal 5 in New York and the Congress Theater in Chicago. Girl Talk support acts often play the unfortunate role of being like a warm-up game for a Steelers Super Bowl, to use a Pittsburgh analogy, and Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis has often lamented the fact that his fans don’t always know what to make of his openers. But for Junk Culture’s live show, Mantena employs his brother, Nitin, on drums and the siblings make a racket in front of visual stimuli like old surfer videos. With a poppier and hookier side on display with Summer Friends, the brothers Mantena should have no trouble converting the screaming legions of junk culture-adoring Girl Talk fans.