Hyper, Sam Matlock, Jack Trammell triangulate on highly intentional take on Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’3A1E370F 79AF 4538 9006 2B41CC24FC3B

Hyper, Sam Matlock, Jack Trammell triangulate on highly intentional take on Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’

Nirvana’s 1991 single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” has attracted a host of covers and spins in the past 31 years, each with its own distinctive style. Dance/electronic producer Hyper, Sam Matlock of Wargasm, and music composer Jack Trammell are the latest to step to the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” re-imaginative plate, putting forth a textured amalgamation of bass and sheer grit. And though takes on the American rock band’s classic have been ubiquitous over the years, the triad’s decision to add their own touch wasn’t owed to an inclination to follow the crowd or be on trend.

“This was not done on a whim,” Hyper attests. “‘Teen Spirit’ meant everything to us. It really changed everything in punk and grunge. It is the track that caught the attention of the scene, both in the US and Europe. It reinvigorated an element of musical honesty that is so rare these days. The song also means a lot to my hometown of Seattle, as this is the same scene that Kurt broke with the Sub Pop record label in the late ’80s and early ‘90s, and so we wanted to give our rendition of it the proper attention it deserves. We did not overlook or ignore any element of the original track, yet we also put our own batshit crazy spin on it that I’m certain will be a smash on festival stages this summer and beyond.” 

The “batshit crazy spin” of which Hyper, who grew up in the throes of the Pacific Northwest’s grunge and punk rock scene, speaks arrives in tandem with a visualizer that artistically channels the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video and band imagery. The nods to Nirvana and the band’s lasting impact on music don’t stop there; Hyper, Matlock, and Trammell’s artwork for the single notably resembles that of Nirvana’s Incesticide album, released in 1992. The visualizer for the high-octane, intentionally crafted output can be viewed below.

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