You may not have seen it, but there was a recent track review on Pitchfork for this nearly unheard-of band called Handglops. It might not have been anything out of the ordinary for most people, but it was a fine day for Swarthmore. One of our own actually managed to make it out of the depths of languishing nerd-dom and get his music, his really good music, out there. Patrick Kolodgy, Olde Club sound engineer and all around really nice guy, is the main man behind Handglops, and is actually graduating from Swarthmore College in about twelve hours.
Normally, I wouldn’t post about Pat’s music. It draws on and ever-so-slightly mocks the burgeoning lo-fi culture of today’s indie world, represented by bands like Wavves. Handglops takes the lo-fi ethos to an extreme, producing what I imagine is for most a nearly unlistenable mash of sounds (that’s why I say I wouldn’t normally post his music- I try to choose fairly palatable things for this blog, and Handglops is probably best appreciated by other music nerds). He sings about common tropes of youth like partying and the innocent excitement of the weekend. There’s an earnestness, but definitely a mocking there, as well. His songs are kind of like the California lo-fi party scene looking at itself in a distorted mirror.
After reading the Pitchfork review, I couldn’t help myself but post on this. Not that I was particularly close to Pat, but Pitchfork hilariously says things about him like, “The Handglops crew must be pretty hard partiers, their music sounds crazy!!” In our entire year of working together, I don’t think I ever saw the guy anywhere on campus except for our music venue, and I certainly never saw him drink a beer. Even though the review gave a fair number rating, I think it totally missed the point. It’s just nice to know that the hegemonic P-fork does get it wrong.
You can download my favorite track below and check it out for yourself. I really dig it, but like I said, it’s certainly not for everyone. Either way, you’ve got to give it up for our current hometown hero. Congratulations are in order.
