Ladies and gentlemen, although we are preeeetty sure they’re defunct as of, like, four days ago, the time is ripe for an introduction to HLEP. Don’t get all sweaty, it’s pronounced just like it looks. Anyway, these beaus hail from Ann Arbor, MI and it just so happens they put out one of helluva tape this year. It called ZAHN. It good. It smart but not preachy. It heavy and broken like forgotten car. It icy like rain in Michigan November. The band features members of Bad Indians who, some of you may recall, played Stone Fox in the wake of SXSW, along with MMOSS and Maston. After the show, they camped out on couch and floor, leaving this tape–and a few others we’ll get to later–on our kitchen table as a gesture of thanks. We pass it along for related reasoning. Thanks, buddies. We hope, we hope this lull won’t last.