In 2004 Washington D.C's The Casual Dots put out their first and eponymously titled album. It gained a fair bit of attention and acclaim at the time as they were a supergroup of sorts.
'Of sorts' is the operative term here as the groups they had been involved with previously had as apart from Bikini Kill, the groups The Casual Dots players had featured in previously were were ones you would only have been familiar with if you had been a devotee of angry, politically directed, angular bands, of the Nneties, associated with the Riot Girl movement.
This year the band reconvened to put out Sanguine Truth, a belated follow up album. Capitalising on the interest achieved with their first clearly not their first priority.
It's a fabulous record and I only wish it had come to my attention sooner and I could have put it on the list that I published yesterday. People like me care about things like that sadly. Anyhow, it's terrific. It's strident, angular, informed and deeply righteous. Everything you'd expect from a record from a band from these scenes.
I guess you might call it Punk, that most appropriated of terms. But it's sufficiently thought through to deserve the term Post Punk label rather in that it reminds you, or me at least of pioneers of that form; Television, Wire and more obviously, given its vocals and lyrical direction, the likes of Sleater Kinney and El Tigre.
It certinly knows its music history. Live For Yourself sounds like one of those classic, self help anthems of the Doo Wop or Girl Group era. Each song surprises you with how carefully and skillfully it's assembled and executed.
The Casual Dots have used the eighteen years between missives well. Sanguine Truth is a late Christmas present for hipsters.
No comments:
Post a Comment