Dig ‘in: Superchunk, The Beths, Dancer
Check out what the No Wristbands team is listening to and what’s in our show calendars this month on our latest Dig ‘in.
INCOMING
Superchunk - Songs in the Key of Yikes (Merge Records LP)
Superchunk has delivered a treasure trove of power pop with remarkable consistency down through the years that places them in the pantheon of Cheap Trick-like status for the indie set. In the same manner that Cheap Trick gained notoriety with “Surrender,” a spirited anthem about preserving identity, Superchunk did likewise with “Slack Motherfucker.” One could easily envision the Rockford legends taking on a song like “Care Less,” with its power chord crunch and ringing chorus.
Songs in the Key of Yikes is Mac McCaughan’s derivation of Stevie Wonder’s classic album and a commentary on the state of our times. “And every crushing night leads to another endless day,” intones McCaughan on “No Hope.” The band strikes a balance between utter distress and a guarded belief that change is possible. “Cue,” featuring supporting vocals from Quivers’ Bella Quinlan and Holly Thomas, dials back the angst and finds solace in the comforting gestures that exist between connected individuals. On the album’s opener, “Is It Making You Feel Something,” McCaughan issues a call to action: “Now fakes are faking everything / That once made your poor heart sing / If you’ve got a bell / Then ring it / Make it ring.” Being comfortably numb isn’t an option for this Chapel Hill gang, and like the words of another acerbic tunesmith, Warren Zevon, “(They’d) rather feel bad than not feel anything at all.” -Bruce Novak
The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie (ANTI- Records LP)
The effects of treating the hyperthyroidism brought on by Elizabeth Stokes’ Graves’ disease diagnosis altered her more organic and immediate approach to songwriting. Having to dig deeper into her mental processing produced a record that’s more complex in tone and sound. Those detours as the album title and lead song point out proved more difficult, but not insurmountable. “When did life become so unbecoming?,” she questions on “No Joy” as the song moves towards the chorus and later becomes discordant before a soothing flute and recorder passage pulls things back together again.
On “Metal,” Stokes marvels at the complexity of the human body while also bemoaning her own condition for letting her down. “Til My Heart Stops” embraces life’s simpler pleasures, offering up a wish list of tactile and sensory delights. As the album comes to a close with the sanguine “Best Laid Plans,” Stokes appears willing to let go of tightly controlling the narrative, opting instead for experiencing life as it unfolds and presents itself. -Bruce Novak
Dancer - More or Less (Meritorio Records LP)
Residing in Glasgow, Scotland, the rainiest city in the UK, hasn’t dampened the spirits of Dancer. The married couple of vocalist Gemma Fleet and bassist Andrew Doig were long-time London denizens before they moved up north for a fresher experience. In the brief couple of years since becoming a band, Dancer has been prolific. More or Less is the follow-up to last year’s debut album 10 Songs I Hate About You, which was preceded by a couple of earlier EPs.
Their music is playful and pithy, and is definitely geared towards getting you to shimmy across the floorboards as their name would suggest. On the opener, “Legend,” Fleet declares “The future’s not written,” and then proceeds to detail a heist gone awry. “Make A Copy” captures her range of expressions; turning from ecstatic to blasé on a dime. The syncopation of “Man Of Distinction” gives the song a nervous energy that perfectly suits the tale of an awkward encounter. Acknowledging an overload of frenzied responses and frayed nerves, Dancer close with “Calm Down”—a welcome exhale from their breathless workout. -Bruce Novak
UPCOMING
The Belair Lip Bombs at Metro - Sept 17 & 18, 6:30 PM (all ages)
Seeing Melbourne’s Belair Lip Bombs at SXSW in 2024 while awaiting a set by Indianapolis’ Wishy proved to be a pleasant surprise. At the time, the band was touring behind their debut album, Lush Life, and are now primed to release the follow-up, Again, this Halloween. Singer/guitarist Maisie Everett describes their music as Limerence Rock, aimed at achieving a state of intense infatuation. Early Again singles “Don’t Let Them Tell You (It’s Fair)” and “Hey You” are undeniably addictive slices of indie pop that portend great promise for the record as a whole. For both Metro dates, The Belair Lip Bombs will be openers for fellow Aussies Spacey Jane with an early all ages start, making it imperative not to dawdle if you want to get in on the action. -Bruce Novak
Die Spitz at Salt Shed - Sept 18, 6:00 PM
The sexist tropes of a lot of the heavy metal of my youth largely had me steering clear of the genre and which certainly explained the slight female representation among metal musicians. There were a few exceptions like Heart and The Runaways, but even their efforts were subject to a male-gaze perspective. That began to change with the advent of punk, which upended stereotyped roles for female artists and blurred some of the genre hallmarks. Austin Die Spitz belong to a growing list of feminist musicians who’ve incorporated metallic tones with punk ferocity. Their debut LP that just dropped this week, Something To Consume, is a force of nature behind the blow-your-house down power of Ava Schrobilgen’s yowl. Heady music for the head-banging crowd. -Bruce Novak
Minami Deutsch at Empty Bottle - Sept 26, 10:00 PM
The pulse of a city has been known to influence a band’s sound, particularly in the highly-trafficked enclaves of New York City, London, and Chicago for that matter. Kyotaro Miula of Minami Deutsch (which translates to “South Germany”) found inspiration not in his home city of Tokyo, which he describes as overly busy and businesslike, but in Berlin and its persistent and hypnotic motorik rhythm. By embracing a brand of psychedelia built around repetition, tension and release, Minami Deutsch lean towards the cosmic elements of the genre, rather than its poppier counterpart. Pursuing predominately instrumental music, the group occasionally uses vocals as a textural element largely devoid of emotion. They’ve created a sound that will fully occupy your headspace and trigger a neurotransmitter release of epic proportions. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
We Are The City - Violent (Hidden Pony Records LP)
We Are The City was one of those bands that wasn’t quite a Christian band, but was a band comprised of Christian members. I’m not sure if I still would’ve described myself as a Christian when I first heard this band back in my freshman year of high school. I did, however, still attend youth group regularly, and We Are The City gave me something to request that was much more sonically interesting than my go-to “Christians in a band” Relient K.
Violent is perfect for laying on a cold concrete basement floor and staring at the ceiling. I would know, because this is how I experienced this album for the first time, and many times over. Initially released in 2013, We Are The City’s sophomore album marks a departure from the cookie-cutter indie-rock sound that dominated their freshman release, A Quiet World. With Violent, the band begins to pick up a more experimental, contemplative, percussion-heavy sound, which they continued to refine over the next five years.
The album opens with rolling metallic sounds of a glockenspiel, making the listener feel like they’re floating through the water on the aptly named track “Bottom of the Lake.” The theme of water continues, with polyrhythmic drums that sound like water dripping in a cave on the track “Legs Give Out.” “King David” follows, my favorite track, but also one of the simpler arrangements found on the album. This song is angsty and loud, opening with the question “does it surprise you to know that I’m full of feelings that change?” My 14-year-old self definitely directed the sentiment of that line towards my parents. For We Are The City, this song seems more like a questioning of faith, closing with the question “should I fill my mind with God? Aren’t there better things to put inside my head?”
“Everything Changes” is the album’s quietest composition. Beginning with a twinkly ambient opening reminiscent of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and building up to heavy-handed piano chords and a call to go back to a simpler time: “I know everybody changes in some way but since I’ve been gone everything has changed and I don’t want to change.” The album ends with “Punch My Face,” a piano ballad accompanied by the slow crescendo of droning synths into a wall of reverb that completes that album.
We Are The City are now defunct, ending the project in 2020 alongside the release of their final album RIP. Violent, and the rest of the band’s discography, will always hold a special place in my heart for introducing me to a world of music outside of the emo and pop punk I had known up until the time. -Safiya Ratliff
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: