Oakland’s 1988 caught our ear with their spooky, distorted, synth-heavy pop. 1988’s Luis Gutierrez tells me they’ve been working on a ton of material, and luckily they’ve asked us to share their first video for the previously unreleased track “Feria”, which was entirely shot, directed, and edited by members of the band, with a special guest appearance by Mr. Pickles, a dog.. The video stays true to their creepy-yet-fun DIY vibe their recordings have expressed, and somehow has both a lot going on and nothing going on at the same time.. Like most 1988 songs, it’s sung in Spanish and is heavily distorted, so it was difficult for my native English ears to really know what the song was about initially. Luckily, Gutierrez filled me in: “The song is called ‘Feria’ which means ‘fair’ -as in ‘county fair’ – and it also means ‘cash’ in Spanish slang. It’s about the feeling of going to a fair and wanting to spend what you don’t have.” Now, it all makes perfect sense.

1988 plays a dandy of a show at the lovely and cozy Hotel Utah September 25 with Future Twin and Ohio Knife.

Future Twin, Ohio Knife, 1988
Hotel Utah
September 25, 2016
9pm, $5