Illuminati Hotties

• FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You've Been Waiting For [Snack Shack Tracks EP, 2020] A-
• Let Me Do One More [Snack Shack Tracks/Hopeless, 2021] A
• Power [Hopeless, 2024] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You've Been Waiting For [Snack Shack Tracks EP, 2020]
Led in every respect by L.A. sound engineer Sarah Tudzin, this band debuted with 2018's engaging little Kiss Yr Frenemies but then felt compelled, due to indie-biz malfeasances too pathetic to delve into, to keep skin in the game with this bratty, off-the-cuff 2020 mixtape, which in 12 tracks lasting 23 minutes does definitely polish up its own pissed-off punk 'tude. Although the noise it purveys throughout turns doomy on one called "Content/Bedtime," there's also a finale called "reason 2 live" where she sends warm regards to friends who are nice in succinctly described, sweetly differentiated ways. Inspirational Prose: "Hang on to your masters, folks." A-

Let Me Do One More [Snack Shack Tracks/Hopeless, 2021]
For the first half the Sarah Tudzin we were waiting for proves kind of amazing--one song after another lays out a desperately giddy life of pool hopping in pursuit of a clean rebound, consulting a shaman in Ojai, and abjuring the bottled spit at the corner store. Though she calms down second half, because you're rooting for her that proves more a relief than a letup. Throughout she's a brave, manic, supersmart indie-girl auteur who not only wants love but has a fair idea of what it is: "You're leaning in/I'm leaning out/You think that you could love me through the sway?" Or wait a second while she makes that: "I'm leaning in/You're leaning away/You think that you could love me through the sway?" A

Power [Hopeless, 2024]
Since it's pretty much inevitable that an entire album of songs about love that's not quite working out won't quite work out either, you have to give Sarah Tudzin credit for having the guts to risk it and condolences for the disappointments you hope she's chronicling rather than experiencing. "I'm everything you wanted except I've never been dishonest," she observes. So "I'm falling in love with somebody better," she reports—or anyway, hopes. B+