Jacob Smolinski ‘Shitkicks’ His Way Through Captivating New ‘Wylie Something’ EP, ‘Up Thru the Rust’
- matt smith
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
“A picture or a thousand words
I got some time
I need the work
Moments in amber
smooth as silk”
(From Wylie Something, ‘Up Thru the Rust’)
There’s something extraordinary that happens when listening to a Wylie Something record. Always transcendent, always daring, the music surrounds and ultimately consumes, absorbing you into a cosmic, lo-fi world of sublime wonderment. It’s a unique sonic experience. It’s like sinking into velvet pudding.
‘Wylie Something’ is actually prolific Buffalo artist Jacob Smolinski, who today marks the release of his alter ego’s newest EP, ‘Up Thru the Rust,’ a distinctive and captivating five-track kaleidoscope of sound. (Available HERE and HERE)
“I've been tinkering with this EP since November 2024, and I am thrilled to have it see the light of day. Honestly, beyond thrilled — ecstatic,” Smolinski said. “This is the first time since 2017 where I played all the physical instruments on a project, including the drums. This project is really special to me because of that. In Buffalo, there's a trove of talented folks who are literal masters at their instruments and over the years, I had lost a touch of confidence in myself in regard to the ‘drums-n-bass’ front. In my head it was ‘just stick to guitar and vocals and keys!’
“I was lucky enough to have some really talented folks play on my (previous) records like Kameron Plotner, Bella Buscarino, and Jurek Lelonek, Arden Yonkers and Dan Keegan. But I wanted to push myself in some new sonic directions that I just kept hearing on repeat in my head,” Smolinski added. “Cue up practicing the drums just about every day in November. I finally felt like I could record these ideas and bring them to life, doin' em justice as winter set in.”
While ‘Up Thru the Rust’ shares the skilled lyrical craftsmanship — (often rich in contemplation) — as last year’s Wylie Something LP, ‘Picnic,’ what’s different is the range of musical influence, which seems to be more expansive on this new record
“The influences on this EP are far and wide, and I honestly don't know where to begin,” said Smolinski. “I'm a huge fan of indie rock and classic country and shoegaze and ish, and this is kinda my love letter to it all. Fuck it, I love me some stoned out songs, although I can't record under the influence because I get too scared (laughs). I just like vivid, distinct sounds and there's something cathartic about sinking deep into the couch cushions of a tune. If that makes sense?”
Fuzzy, melodic, trippy and catchy, the magic on ‘Up Thru the Rust’ is Smolinski’s ability to take what at first might seem cacophonous and turn it into something mellifluous.
“After releasing ‘Picnic’ and ‘Dimes in a Wishing Well’ in late '24 and '25,” Smolinski said, “I had a LOT of pent-up energy after spending time in those subdued and pleasant headspaces. DUALITY MAN! And when I finally felt comfortable recording the drums on my own again, I felt like I was off to the races. I gathered up a couple of choice room mics and two dynamics for kick and snare, turned my living room into a padded drum studio, and went crazy figuring out the drum sound for the record with only four mics.
“I actually played most of these songs to a click while just humming the song in my head, then tracking all the other instruments after,” he added. “It may sound a bit like a guitar record with all the wild tones and feedback delays running, but I wanted the drums to be just as melodic as the other instruments in terms of fills and all. I wanted this set of recordings to sound LOOOOOOOUD. Again, home recording is my main joy in life! And it was so fun tweakin' things over this year in the mixing and mastering process, where I've been trying to teach myself how to master lately. It's friggin' hard. Huge shoutout to Alex Behrens (of Everythings, Wife and Kids, and Dumb 100) and all the homies for givin' me tips and pointers with how to get these soundin' right.”
Smolinski said the words on ‘Up Thru the Rust’ represent “perhaps the most favorite lyrics” he’s ever written, adding that ‘Shitkickin’ my way through the city’ — a line which he sings on the song ‘Lights On But Nobody Is Home’ — serves as the “thesis statement” for the record.
“I'm just out here wanderin' around, lookin' for somethin' to inspire me,” Smolinski said.
“Lyrics are incredibly important to me and the older I get — I just turned 30 this year — things have just been clickin' in different ways. I guess the big CLICK is that you don't have to be diary-esque in everything. You can go abstract, or describe a true-blue feelin' rather than bein' like … ‘I feel torn/ Life is a bore/ Grew up far out/ Now the city calls me home’ … which is, like, fine, but I feel like the approach is everything when it comes to a song like ‘God's Country’ where I really tried to describe the push and pull of growing up outside the city limits through lines like:
"I want to grow up Thru the holes that rust ate Bottomed out
Dumb ol' Stingray
Bottomed out
Honda Odyssey
Baby on board
That baby's now a man
He moved to the city
E-scooter in hand
E-commerce marketing
He makes all the ads
While dad sits at home
Watchin' the tele, Budweiser in hand"
“It's a tale as old as time, ya feel? I saw an ol' ‘Baby on Board’ sticker on a Honda Odyssey burned out in a yard while driving back from an unrelated recording session in Almond, NY with Alex and it made me wonder WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT KID!? Then, that created a whole little world in my head that I felt could become a song. Regardless though, these songs are each about specific feelings or concepts, whether it's admiring a beauty of a leaf fallin' off a tree in fall to existential crisis pipeline on ‘Counter,’ or feeling like the concert life isn't for you on ‘Literal Child.’ I get a ton of happiness exploring these things and makin' em sound COOL (at least to me).”
It's that sense of exploration that has become the hallmark of Smolinski’s ‘Wylie Something’ music, and on ‘Up Thru the Rust’ specifically, it is the engine that fuels this record.
“I feel like my music is somewhat informed by the extremes I kinda live through day-to-day, week-to-week,” Smolinski said. “My one thing I want to say to fellow musicians, and folks, is don't be afraid to pick up a new instrument and hone the rudiments. It can be more fun and cheaper than ya think. Make them sounds you hear in your head! Just have fun and sink into the process.”
***
A look at the GEAR LIST for ‘UP THRU THE RUST’:
- Jurek's Enforcer drum kit from high school
- Two condenser mics
- Two dynamic mics
- 3-watt Vox amp
- Beater electric guitar
- Beater bass
- Beater lap steel (79.99 from Allentown Music BLESS THEIR HEARTS)
- Somebody's Boss multiFX pedal I've held onto since high school
- Free Reaper DAW
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