Greats

Greats is a concentrated dose of the specific magic Mates of State brought to the 2000s indie landscape. It is an album that sounds like a conversation between two people who know each other's sentences before they are finished. The primary engine here is the interplay between Kori Gardner's percussive organ work and Jason Hammel's frantic, jazz-inflected drumming. Together, they create a wall of sound that feels much larger than a duo, filling every frequency with bright, distorted textures and sugary melodies. Owning this compilation is about capturing a specific era of unabashedly happy indie music that did not sacrifice complexity for catchiness. The songs are structurally dense, featuring odd time signatures and sudden shifts that keep the listener engaged even as the hooks dig in. It is the sound of domesticity turned into high-stakes pop drama, where the stakes are emotional honesty and melodic perfection. Whether you are a long-time fan or a newcomer, Greats serves as a masterclass in vocal arrangement. The way their voices chase each other, harmonize, and then diverge creates a sense of constant motion. It is music that demands your full attention while simultaneously making you want to move, offering a rare blend of intellectual stimulation and pure, unadulterated pop bliss.

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