Tuff Bluff – Poppies 7″ (Snappy Little Numbers)

If you paid close attention to our reviews section lately, you probably noticed a couple of articles about Snappy Little Numbers releases. This Denver, Colorado-based record label carries many brilliant artists on its roster, so if you haven’t checked out their pages yet, I highly advise you to do so. Tuff Bluff was the first one that caught my eye once I opened the package. This flexi record comes decorated with a beautiful abstract illustration and a big Tuff Bluff title on the front. It’s a good-looking record that will catch your attention on the merch table, distro, or in the record shop.

Poppies 7″ consists of three excellent pop-punk songs, but Tuff Bluff are one of those bands willing to show off all their skills. Besides the sheer dominance of pop-punk, you’ll notice some properties of classic melodic punk rock, power pop, and indie rock. The band cleverly combined all these ingredients into a colossal slab of harmonious, soothing, pleasant noise. The Poppies is a classic pop-punk song with foundations deep down in indie music. You’ll notice how chord progressions continuously levitate between nineties pop-punk and indie rock sound, and harmonious power-pop singalongs provide an even better listening experience. The lead guitar offers a simplistic but catchy theme that serves as a guide throughout the song. It’s a song that immediately convinces you to dig deeper into this release.

RATS provides more than the necessary dosage of straightforward melodic punk rock. Tuff Bluff relies upon tight riffs, excellent basslines, and energetic rhythmic maneuvers, and it seems like the band almost entirely removed those pop-punk/power pop aesthetics on this one. It’s short, sweet, and catchy, just like contemporary melodic punk rock songs should sound nowadays. Hey Tiff closes this brilliant 7″ with similar sound aesthetics to RATS. Tuff Bluff descend into energetic punk rock waters even more than before, but it seems this song provides more garage rock or classic rock’n’roll sound. Still, these are just enhancements that further decorate an excellent a cleverly assembled punk rock number. Considering these two are the bonus tracks, they’re perhaps part of some other recording sessions. Poppies have a polished, calmy, relaxing, pop-punk/power pop sound, while these two are dirty, abrasive, heavy, energetic punk rock anthems. Tuff Bluff tend to experiment with several complimentary genres to express themselves in the best possible way, and they succeeded in their aims. Therefore, I highly advise you to check out this Flexi 7″, because you’ll immediately fall in love with their songs. Head over to Snappy Little Numbers for more information about ordering.