Dumb

Live Fast Die Dumb (Gnar Tapes)

Punk music ain’t nothing more than three chords and the truth. Or wait, that’s supposed to be country. No matter: Ohio transplant Corey Baum and threadbare trio Dumb throw both schticks into the fryer and cook up a second collection – on cassette, no less – of shit-kicking slacker sonnets about East Austin l-i-v-i-n (“I Have No Idea What’s Going On”). It doesn’t take an etymologist to trace the tracks these songs traverse: “E.R. Blues,” about the medical bills Baum can’t pay; “Goddamn Trans Am,” about the cars he can’t afford. Then there’s “Heather (You’re So Cool),” about the girl behind the convenience store counter – a confession so common in Austin that hipster bros will wonder how they didn’t write that first. Baum sings each with a derelict drawl and tongue taped to his cheek. Satire? Surely. Manufactured in a minute? Maybe. Yet as “That’s More Like It” proves, Baum makes this country-punk marriage sound destined.

***.5

This article appears in May 24 • 2013.

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