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July 17, 2007
Like a Movement Without the Bother of All of the Meaning
DFA Records' continued inching into good old rock and roll is a wonderful thing indeed. Though "good old" isn't the purpose so much as "great new." The labels last two signings, Kiwi throb-and-achers Shocking Pinks and UK smash-and-shouters Prinzhorn Dance School, have been in near constant rotation at the MS-East House Boat for several weeks now. Happily, there seem to be no real stylistic connective threads between the two bands, besides superficially applicable descriptors like "stripped down." No easily coined faux genre names even begin spring to mind. Just good music, sonically diverse and extremely well chosen. Like anyone should have expected differently...
Quickly: No, Neil Young's rockabilly band is thankfully not enjoying a resurgence.
Nick Harte, former drummer for cuddle bears the Brunettes, was turning out Shocking Pinks records for our beloved Flying Nun Records before New York City came-a-knockin'. Their first release is a compilation of singles sensibly entitled Shocking Pinks - Singles, and hits the States in September. Intial listens to its contents sound about as good in practice as a DFA-Flying Nun hybrid does on paper.
"Victims" begins its 2 minutes and 15 seconds of life as a fuzzy synth punk rave up. Though the willful lo-fidelity muddles Harte's words, we can make out appropriately disdainful line readings of teen rage chestnuts like "crawling like an insect," and more importantly, "I don't give a fuck." It's all bad attitude and slurred bile. So when the line, "Victims, baby, poor little vict-uh-ums" intrudes, it seems at first like an ironic alt-rock dismissal. But then the synthesizer bravado clears out. In the presence of its replacement strum, the line sounds, magically, almost bittersweet and empathic.
// Shocking Pinks - MySpace
// Shocking Pinks - Singles - Album Stream
Prinzhorn Dance School - "Crackerjack Docker"
Since I posted the video last week, my levels of obsession with this song lead me to believe that there might be some mp3 starved PDS fans in the invisible ether as well. It seems like the School is actually a research facility devoted to using the fewest notes possible. It starts with a bass line which, like the Kingpin or Jabba the Hut, is fat and evil. Rhythmic guitar strums and scattered drum beats are subservient to it, acting as unquestioning henchmen. The lyrics are nonsense, but bold nonsense artfully arranged in repetitive twos and threes. The interplay between Tobin Prinz's indifference and Suzi Horn's unchecked enthusiasm continues to intrigue. She puts a bold face emphasis on key bits of Dada, making them seem vitally important. None moreso than the cryptic title figure, fan of the startling 5 A.M. cameo. You know the kids have pounded their skewed logic into your head when after they leave you hanging on their final "Knock! Knock!" you find yourself mentally opening that door frame wide and correctly identifying its inhabitant.
The album that's filled with these delightfully brutish non sequiturs is due on the 28th of August.
// Prinzhorn Dance School - website
Posted by Jeff Klingman at July 17, 2007 10:40 AM
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