Gravity Is Just a Way To Fall

Smug Brothers' music has been cutting through the indie noise for more than two decades, driven by the ever-evolving chemistry of singer/guitarist Kyle Melton and drummer Don Thrasher (Guided by Voices, Swearing at Motorists), and their slew of highly collectible LPs, CDs, and cassettes.And yet, you don't need to own any of those to get an overview of the Columbus, Ohio, band's insanely addictive, riff-driven catalog. Smug Brothers' newest release, Gravity Is Just A Way To Fall, does that for you, arriving on the heels of both a new record (2025's Stuck on Beta) and an increasing number of shows, festival spots, and Melton's own recording finesse.Like Heartless Bastards, Cloud Nothings, or Times New Viking, Smug Brothers burst out of Ohio in the mid-2000s with a scrappy, lo-fi sound that only hinted at the head-bobbing greatness to come. Briefly a recording project with Darryl Robbins of Motel Beds, and since 2009 a full-fledged band, Melton and Thrasher have belted out Beatlesquese earworms, head-spinning sound collages, serrated stompers, hushed folk, dance-ready horn splashes, and more on their sonic journey.Thank the indie gods, then, that they've chosen a tight 13 songs for the LP version of Gravity - and a generous 31-track CD version - that showcase their mastery with a rotating cast of Ohioans (most of them sporting their own worthy musical projects, including Kyle Sowash, Brian Baker, and Marc Betts).I've been a fan since the very beginning, not just as a proud native of Dayton, Ohio, where they formed, but as a rock lifer and music critic who's been deeply immersed in Midwestern rock since high school. Even before I was pitching stories about them to Rolling Stone or raving about them to friends and colleagues, I convinced Smug Brothers to drive across the country and play a music fest in my current home of Denver. (I feel like I still owe them gas money, given their limited draw at the time and their 1,400-mile, one-way trek at my request.) Of course, I've never stopped gobbling up each new release.Now firmly one of Ohio's best rock bands and a nationwide indie exemplar, Smug Brothers continue to humbly churn out some of the most energizing, poetic, hazily brilliant songs of the 21st century. This is deeply satisfying music that demands a cold beer, a sunset view, and your loudest speakers (headphones are OK for second listens). Fiercely DIY in spirit and deceptively straightforward in sonics, the tracklist on Gravity captures a band that's still getting more creative and confident - see Melton's recent, aforementioned engineering and mixing triumphs on beloved analog gear - while staying rooted in the rich soil of the Buckeye State.There's precious little these days that doesn't feel alternately niche or blandly calibrated. But on Gravity, you hear an honest-to-God band soaring on killer hooks, lyrics, and beats while embracing rock fundamentals. It would be easy to name-drop Ohio influences or inspirations - forebears or peers such as The Breeders, Brainiac, and Afghan Whigs - but Smug Brothers justifies them handily, and one listen to Gravity shows you why their hand-crafted musical world and boundless exploration have made them a pillar of Midwestern rock, under-the-radar or not. -John Wenzel