This week we talked to LA-based Suzie True who put out their great power-pop record last November. We talked about the Bikini Kill record Reject All American and it was a really fun and funny conversation.
Here are your lucky numbers…
No need to click through this time! I stuck to ‘96 for the mixtape this week because there was so much great shit that came out that year that we didn’t get to touch on even on our chart review. It was a real challenge to keep this under 2 hours! My intrigue about that particular Social D record has been somewhat confirmed by quite a few responses to our best albums of ‘96 straw poll on Twitter. A special shout out to Mayhem Ghosts on that Chisel suggestion as well!
The Pitch
Justin didn’t give me a reason for his selection here but I’ll assume it has something to do with my love and appreciation for a few Post-Punk records from last year. I can hear some subtle similarities to the Fotocrime, Bacchae and Ganser records that came out last year on the new Shame record Drunk Tank Pink.
The color “drunk tank pink” is so eye-gougingly iridescent it’s hard to imagine anyone could be subdued by it. It’s a fitting name for a record like this.
The vast majority of Post-Punk records I have heard from the 2010s sounds like Wire, Gang of Four and Talking Heads so it’s hard to criticize this record for sounding played out. That’s just the genre. It’s as old as Punk Rock. How do we judge this record? You listen to it. If you’re nodding your head, it’s good. There’s so many outright danceable moments on here, I can’t imagine you could listen to this record and sit stock still. Get up baby, gimme your best David Byrne wiggle.
I mentioned Gang of Four earlier. If there’s one band whose template for Post-Punk hasn’t been properly exploited 40 plus years later it’s them. This record plays a few cards from that deck. Those stabbing guitar-as-percussion lines, the ass-shaking disco beats and lots of ironic cocky, Big Beat club calls.
I’ll take this catchiness and danceability over the standard brooding and angular sound of most British Post-Punk. This is one I can safely say I will come back to this year.
Jackpot Plus!
One last thing before I sign off this week! From time to time over this next year I want to bring back an aspect of the show that we sacrificed in order to streamline the program. So I thought I would fire up the old number generator, punch in the corresponding year on the flux capacitor(rateyourmusic punk charts) and find an EP to subject myself to and report back.
Did we win? YES!
I drew Feeling Older Faster by 90s Minneapolis Metalcore underdogs Threadbare from the extended play hat. Helmet and Deadguy grooves, Lookinglasself era Snapcase riffs, wildly dynamic vocals and even a requisite Metallica style acoustic track. Speaking of Snapcase, Threadbare’s standout bass player Dustin Perry would take over the low end for that band on their 2000 album Designs for Automation.
Stay lucky!
Dylan