Scary Pockets // Scary Pockets

Scary Pockets

Scary Pockets

665567 Records DK 

3.75/5 stars

Do you ever wish your pop music, well, popped more? Scary Pockets peel away the plastic and get at the flesh of it, reimagining the processed meat of the commercial music industry more organically — and spice it up with enough funk flavor to set your ear buds en fuego. Manning the microphone on all but one of these 13 covers are women — each one of them a veritable powerhouse despite not being household names (yet). The more obvious translations (The Weeknd's MJ homage "I Feel It Coming," Bruno Mars' "That's What I Like") do not provide nearly as much interest as the material that has been utterly transformed (Selena Gomez' "It Ain't Me" in the style of Sly Stone, Radiohead's famously melancholy "Creep" turned into an upbeat nod to Billy Preston, Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" given the blaxploitation soundtrack treatment). Although having a fleet of Patreon Chaka Khans at their disposal helps (as keyboardist and bandleader Jack Conte is the support-the-artist website's founder), the band's best asset may be their rhythm section (bassist Sam Wilkes and drummer Kyle Crane) — they are scarily in the pocket. 

— Matt Swanseger