Blip Blip Bleep: Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Wake Up

Blip Blip Bleep
Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Get Up
Undercover Culture Music
2008-04-08

When you name your band Blip Blip Bleep, you invite certain expectations. I went into Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Get Up expecting either upbeat Gameboy-based electronic songs or upbeat synth-heavy pop-rock. Either way, it was hopefully going to be peppy and fun. Turns out that Sean Han’s band is of the latter variety. This is a concept EP that follows the day in the life of a working 20something in New York City. And it’s really, really good. The songs are catchy, particularly the laid-back “Street Lights” and the sing-along bounce of “Okay Lover.” Lyrically, Han has clearly had a few of the sort of days he’s singing about, which adds a bit of grit to the generally light and poppy music. Musically, the band sounds a lot like the Postal Service with a live drummer. Han’s voice resembles Ben Gibbard’s and having Sarah Lee on backing vocals just adds to the similarity. Still, the songs are great and this release is definitely worth checking out.

RATING 7 / 10