As the relationship between artist and listener has evolved in recent years with the advent and expansion of social media, the discussion of music classification rages on more fervently than ever before. Music fans have become so comfortable having instant access to the artists they listen to, and with that access comes the ability to make these artists aware of every conceivable opinion a listener could have on their music, unfortunately including this onslaught of hot genre takes. I consistently see this happening to the band pulses. and the endless list of genres they are told they are despite being very clear about how they classify themselves. Cheem is another one of these bands that is constantly testing the limits of genre classification.
The members of Cheem have clearly grown up with an appreciation for multiple genres of music, and you can hear that love incorporated in their songs. In the past, I’ve described them as “a jazz band disguised as a nu-metal band disguised as a pop band.” Funky bass grooves, sharp and textured drum shuffles, heavy riffs, and the smoothest execution of the two-singer style – rapping blended with dynamic vocals reminiscent of a few particular pop-punk vocalists of yesteryear. Even within their last LP, Guilty Pleasure, their sense of style and genre is broken down and rebuilt countless times across the record’s 22-minute runtime. Cheem are a fierce amalgamation of the countless artists who have inspired them, and their latest EP release, Fast Fashion, maintains this versatile approach to their creative process, expanding on it in a fresh, explosive way.
Immediately, listeners are thrown into this latest Cheem experience with a relentless, biting riff that is soon joined by the band’s rapper, Skye Holden, and it’s clear that “Bootleg” is nothing like the two singles that preceded the EP. Instead, it leans far more into the band’s heavy rock and hip-hop sensibilities, hitting me more like a song straight out of the Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island soundtrack. There’s a freedom in Cheem’s approach to style that allows for the most creative descriptors of their music that are never too far off the mark.
