Finally—a record that breaks through the morass of balderdash. A light in the dark, creepy woods you were warned to stay away from—you get the idea. I’m reading their liner notes and it says that they were originally going to use their piano player’s last name as the name of their band but they ran into some legal issues. His name? Rod Slaughter. Okay, I totally made that up, but they can use that anyway. But to cut the crap and get to the music. “Laissez-Faire System” rails against the corporate hierarchy and has some nice Moog parts from Sean Stevens. “Abbey” features melodic vocals from bassist Grant Johnson as he sings, “knocked a pane of glass out of my front window/that broke against the ground two stories below.” “Dean” is a full tilt rocker fueled by Dave Berthiqume’s precise fills that rags on some local actor who walks around town with a major attitude. This tune makes me think what Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp record would sound like if the Jam’s rhythm section sat in on some sessions. Excellent stuff. I believe this band is from Winnipeg, Canada so I’m sure Nardwuar has already had coffee with them. But check out their website too—they have a cool cover of a New Order song on there as well.
–koepenick (Mint)