Bed Rugs – Rapids

Bed Rugs – Rapids EP (Waste My Records/Munich Records)

This group of friends from Antwerp started making music together in the mid 2000s and reached the finale of Humo’s Rocky Rally under the name The Porn Bloopers. Like so many bawdy boo-boos and scatalogical screw-ups, both their original hard-rock style and their original name thankfully ended up on the cutting-room floor, to be replaced by their more cerebral incarnation as Bed Rugs. The psych-tinged indie pop of their 2012 debut, 8th Cloud, was heavenly enough to earn them stage time at Pukkelpop and an opening slot on Balthazar’s tour through the Netherlands, and they ride the high into 2013 with the even better Rapids. Its colourful cartoon cover art and Beach Boy-ish harmonies immediately remind me of bands on the Elephant 6 roster, but a couple of shoegazier jams add breadth to this promising EP.
 
by Carly Blair