if you follow me on twitter, i've probably tweeted about these guys more than a couple times over the past couple years. i'm still not over their recent breakup, and i need to process it by sharing the joy they bring to me with the world.
i'm also writing this because i feel like during their short lifetime, they never got the recognition or gained the popularity that they deserved. apparently, i'm not alone; a reviewer at the alternative put it perfectly: "the new orleans band managed to amass one of the most forward-thinking, clever, quirky and technically bewildering punk catalogs of their generation—and hardly get recognized for it."
like many of my best musical discoveries, i first heard one of their songs on MIT's radio station, WMBR (specifically, their phenomenal breakfast of champions show). it was called "john cena," off of their 2015 album how to treat the ones you love, a record that's still in constant rotation for me. btw, the tune seemingly has nothing to do with john cena, which makes me love them even more. it's also one of the handful of tracks that's sung by guitarist matthew seferian rather than frontman neil berthier.
i had the fortune of seeing these crazy kids live just about two years ago at a lil' art gallery-turned-venue in cambridge. there were only about 30-40 of us there, but it was one of those invigorating shows where every single person there knew every single word of every single song and screamed it back.
their music can best be categorized as "skate punk," and the song/video for the first single from HTTTOYL, "ollie north" (one of my favorite songs of 2015) is a pretty perfect summary:
however, what i really love about their music is that nearly every song takes these unexpected twists and turns—whether it's when neil's singing turns to screaming, or when gigantic, crunchy riffs mellow into melodic, synth-y goodness (or conversely, transform into epic shredding) that quite literally makes me say "hell yes!" out loud.
nowhere is that more evident than on their final record, WAVES, which came out at the beginning of this month. like, there's a friggin' instrumental hip-hop track on there, even. i love so many of the tunes so far, but the second single, "ways," really encapsulates everything i dig about their style. instantly catchy, yet surprisingly complex, and a whole lot of fun.
the whole record is just made for night drives with the windows down in the summertime and i cannot wait to crank it at full blast. it's the perfect parting gift from an underrated band. shred in peace, d-wolf.
