DESCRIPTION:
With his mom’s permission, Erik Nervous now has a brand-new single set to be released by Florida’s Total Punk in mid-2017. For the uninitiated, Erik Nervous is a Midwestern solo-rocker who, as he made sure to openly-note in the recent physical release of his “Teen Distortion Art Junk Music” EP (https://neck-chop-records.myshopify.com/products/erik-nervous-teen-distortion-art-junk-music-7), he isn’t “on” Lumpy Records, and sure as hell ain’t from NWI (though if you were to ask me, I’d say that’s because neither of ‘em want anything to do with Erik). I imagine both of these misconceptions stem from his notable backstory, which, being one of the first few people who bothered to talk about his demo tape, seems to have been somewhat misconstrued over the course of the year that Erik’s been active. No, Erik wasn’t close friends with neither Martin Meyer (Lumpy) nor Mark Winter (Mark Winter) prior to the release of his debut “Shipshewana Swimming” demo tape; he just gave them a copy of his demo while attending their show up in Kalamazoo, which Lumpy and Mark found to be so enjoyable that a physical release was distributed on their respective labels, Lumpy Records and Records Inc., shortly thereafter. No, Erik doesn’t have very close ties with Lumpy Records; barring the demo tape, every other bit of Erik’s material was either self-released or put out by different labels entirely, namely Warm Ratio (“Shipshewana Swimming” 7”: http://www.warmratio.com/shop/nat/erik/), Neck Chop Records (https://neck-chop-records.myshopify.com/products/erik-nervous-teen-distortion-art-junk-music-7), and soon, Total Punk. And no, Erik isn’t from NWI; he’s actually housed in Kalamazoo, a city that’s a little bit of a ways north of NWI – so, kinda like the relationship between NWI and Chicago, they’re basically the same shit, right?

I know I’m right. Anyways, here’s two new songs written and recorded by the Nervous man himself. Yeah, he screams in these, and yeah, it’s kinda scary. It’s a rather sudden change in tone and pace from Erik’s sprightly, tightly-wound delivery (as displayed in his preceding “Shipshewana Swimming” and “Teen Distortion Art Junk Music” releases), but like his diversion into the darker end of the post-punk spectrum with his “Winter Cassingle ‘16”, Erik pulls this deviation in intonation off masterfully. Making a short-winded return from “Teen Distortion Art Junk Music”, a hammy synthesizer once again backs the uncharacteristically-enraged opening track, “Ice Cream”. Being a song supposedly written about “stabbing people over ice cream”, Erik chooses to sacrifice his vocal chords for a brief bout of full-on bellowing towards the middle of the song, prefacing the violent tirade with the fluid introduction of supplementary, discordant chords, which helps in bridging the otherwise-abrupt transition between light, synth-infused melodies, and a frenzied cascade into utter madness. There’s a reason why Erik saves this song for the last during shows: it totally wrecks his voice. The single’s second track, “Children Stabbing Things”, covers a “plot to a shitty horror movie that doesn't exist”, utilizing a demented, angular instrumental as a means of conveyance – as well as a single “clunk” of a cowbell towards the end, interestingly enough. Erik starts screaming towards the end of this song as well, assumingly to meet the minimum “punk” quota necessary in order to have your music released on Total Punk. Then again, what band HASN’T had something released on Total Punk at one point or another? It’s almost like a rite of passage for you guys. First comes Total Punk, then international tours, and then a deal with Burger Records. Right?

TRACK LIST:
Ice Cream – 0:00
Children Stabbing Things – 1:27

SUPPORT: https://eriknervous.bandcamp.com/album/ice-cream-single
DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/file/vpfq4q6a8jkhjc3/Ice_Cream_%28Single%29.zip