Teetering at the brink of some kind of honest-to-gawd indie rock and very laid-back and mellow underground rap is WHIP APPEAL. A new band, they call JP home and are borne of the ashes of groups like THE FUCKTROTS and BUSHMASK. These guys could be considered a way-different vibe—yin to the yang—of KTB, another currently very wonderful and sick Boston band (I demand you listen to them). Whip Appeal remind me of many things and nothing. How strange. Cheap keyboards, great drumming, great guitar playing (and tone, I might add . . . reminding me of the guitar tone Spencer Seim used in THE ADVANTAGE), and a really infectious sing-song rap-vocal delivery. Might sound like a nightmare on paper, but it works. Very well. These guys are going to be well liked, I predict.

“Face In”  finds singer/rapper James Coarse spouting off about young-man problems via verse that is all knotted and twisted up, sometimes even into delicate bows. He sings that “Sometimes I really think I need to get my face messed up.” And you’re pretty sure that he actually feels that way. He and his compatriots are Boston shitheads. Of the variety that stands together with the likes of us here at the Hassle as a cultural middle finger to much of the socio-cultural environs we find ourselves existing within here in the Boston area. It might sound like a heavy idea to attach to a seriously unserious bit of funky indie rock like this, but music of this nature is gonna save Boston, my friends. Listen to Whip Appeal. Do your thing. Find strength in the rap/indie-rock band from Boston that shouldn’t be as fucking dope as they are. Find Whip Appeal. See them soon. Great video was made by the band’s guitarist, Dann Lawrence. A real springtime Boston shot of adrenaline that could very well lead to summer-jam status down the road apiece.