Bad Combo - The Last EP
Summer break 2018 brought two college friends many an acid trip, odd movie night, and the creation of “The Last EP”. The release is, oddly enough, the last EP from the LA-based duo Bad Combo, and with the band’s departure, they’re leaving a trail of glistening music in their wake. Floating somewhere between bedroom pop and folk, this EP was created from following the wind to places like New York, Seattle, and Malibu.
We spoke with one half of Bad Combo, Theo Buckwald, and he cited Boy Pablo as the major inspiration for most of the record’s sound. He stated that listening to their music and seeing them at Coachella was a “call to arms to make music”. After sitting on this EP for a year, rediscovering his love for Boy Pablo showed Buckwald that now was the time to release the last effort from Bad Combo despite the duo already parting ways.
The stringing together of instrumental elements from different genres helps to convey the dream-like feeling of the release. A few tracks feature blues guitar riffs played by a friend of the project, filling the sonic landscape with another gust of wind to pull you farther into the music. “We felt that the music was very empty without it (guitar) and we picked from all of these random takes that Josh did and it brought the EP to life”.
Although Bad Combo is bidding us farewell, I’m glad that they parted ways with “The Last EP”. Listening to this release is like pulling into your driveway after the longest drive of your life; you can still feel the whirring rush of asphalt behind your eyes, but your heart grows still as you take the keys from the ignition. “There’s always a point where you want to pick up and leave and this EP is about facing the repercussions of that.”
https://soundcloud.com/fat-beep/sets/bad-combo-the-last-ep
Written by Ashton Carr
