People still make old fashioned punk rock. I mean to say that people still channel the fury, the energy, and the sheer unrestrained fun of those early punk bands, and not all of those people are heavily tattooed guys in mohawks with de rigueur leather jackets.
Take Signal, one of the uncountable "punk" bands in Brooklyn, as an example. I mean, they have a woman singing for them? Can they even be punk?
Have you ever heard of X-Ray Spex? How about The Slits? Maybe Romeo Void? Yes, women can make punk rock, and in fact they can make some damned fine punk rock.
Take, for example, Signal. Their vocalist, Aida, tears through the five songs here with a visceral energy, screaming, singing, talking. She is a blaze of energy, a vocal blur. I imagine her in concert bouncing around like mad, hair flying.
Allie drums for Signal. Beck adds bass and Carlos is on guitar. That's it.
And they play the old stuff. The fast, furious, sloppy, unpolished, glorious old school punk.
This EP starts off with a song called Rat Pink Eye, Aida telling a story about watching a small child trip at a park and fall face down onto a dead rat. The band meanders slowly as she recounts this disgusting story, and then they tear into it and she is screaming about how her lover failed to meet her expectations. I am not sure what that has to do with the rat but fuck that guy: she can do better. This song reminds me of the 1980s, being underage in a sweaty room covered in graffiti.
The next tune is BLL and it is a blur. A minute and a half of clattering guitar and thunderous drums. Dilalia is next, and Aida repeats a long ranting sentence that seems to fling itself forward with an odd rhythm, and the guitar squeals and cymbals crash. Less than 2 and a half minutes for these two songs, but that is all they need.
The next tune is the awesomely titled Dorks on Bikes and bassist Beck really dominates here, the bass riff a supple thing driving this song forward as Carlos channels early Wire and Allie pounds the crap out of her kit. The overall effect reminds me a lot of early PIL.
Signal slow it down and give us a grinding 3-minute tune called Want it Worse to end the EP. The rumbling bass seems ominous as Carlos channels Klaus Fluoride and the song in general has a Dead Kennedy's vibe to it. And i mean that as a compliment.
So: wow. When is Signal coming to Atlanta on tour?
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