Squid is a band with a well developed and unique sound. The group hails from the South London post-punk scene. Other bands in the scene include Black Midi and Black Country, New Road.
Instruments used in the project include guitar, saxophone, bass, drums and synthesizers. One change in this album compared to their previous work is an increased use of synthesizers in primary and background instrumentals.
“Swing (in a dream)”
I feel like this song is a bit unique in Squids lineup. The eerie intro heads the song off with retro sounding synths with drums, and then also with guitar. When bass, vocals, and a more distorted guitar come in, the song sounds more like classic Squid, but with the synths continuing in the background.
One interesting musical device used in the track would be the rhythmic relationship between the the guitar and drums. The drums play a straightforward beat in 4/4 while the guitar plays patterns that constantly shift and stress different beats. The combination of the patterns creates a push/pull feel.
“Undergrowth”
This is a very unique track. It sounds like a funk band that was orchestrated by a horror movie soundtrack composer. The track constantly builds energy while gradually interchanging instrumental parts.
Conclusion
I feel that this album is more cohesive than Squid’s previous album, SGK. The tracks that were released as singles are quite good, but do not top the track “Narrator” off of SGK on their own in my opinion.
I’ll give this album an 8/10
Other recommended album tracks: “The Blades”, “Devils Den”, “Siphon Song”
Harry Permezel is a singer songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. He wrote, recorded, and produced this album himself. The album “Wax Man” was released on May 4, 2018. You might like this album if you like Elliot Smith, Sufjan Stevens and/or Wednesday.
His songs often feel calming yet driven, and more often than not have moderately sad subject matter.
“Wax Man”
This track is my favorite on the album. The guitar, drums, and vocals are closely unified in rhythm which makes the song feel driven, but not quite upbeat.
One of my favorite features of Permezel’s writing is exhibited well in this song; His lyrics often seem less like an interpretation of an experience and more like the an account of what happened. This kind of writing leaves room subjective interpretation which is often a mark of good songwriting.
The song begins with these lyrics:
“Trying to stop the little hand of the clock With all the bills you have got A fair while outside of the city You drove that car so fast”
“Wax Man” Lyrics by Harry Permezel
The lines establish clearly that there is someone in the speaker’s life who wishes to pause time, and does the closest thing possible (driving out of the city and ignoring their problems). The speaker then elaborates more about this avoidant character and establishes that their is trust between themselves and the character.
Eventually the song ends with this lyric:
“Trying to stop the little hand of the clock/ Will not do anything”
“Wax Man” lyrics by Harry Permezel
The first half of this couplet duplicates the first line that appears in the song while the second half modifies the first lines original meaning. This is a creative way to end the song and could possibly be described as a humorous as the advice contradicts the listener’s expectations.
“Bonehead”
In this song’s lyrics, the speaker clearly feels distant and indignant, but the musical aspects of the track feel almost peaceful. This juxtaposition is opposite of the experience of the speaker in the song. The speaker recalls:
“Scary sounds drowning out the thoughts I thought would make me feel better”
“Bonehead” lyrics by Harry Permezel
In the speakers life, sound drowns out attempts at positivity, but in the song, negative thoughts are drowned out by sound.
One of the coolest production moments on the album occurs in the first chorus of the song. The section begins with a straightforward harmony in which there is a main vocal and two more other vocals alongside it, but soon after, the voices are panned left to right and sing single words one after another. This use of stereo audio makes it sound like the vocals are bouncing from one ear to another which creates an interesting listening experience.
Conclusion
This is one of my favorite albums, which makes it difficult to to give it a rating. The songs on the album are very well written and were produced in an intriguing and memorable way. I will admit though that there isn’t really anything groundbreaking about the album, but that is not to say that every musical project needs to be.
It was sometime in the winter when I heard Dead Kennedys for the first time. I was living in the passionless coastal town I’ve mentioned in posts before, friendless and freshly eighteen and so bored it hurt.
I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom with the screen door open, letting the cold winter air spill in.
My phone lay on the floor beside me, playing music from some strange YouTube ripoff app, the kind that you can’t find for free anymore after YouTube started its own subscription service.
I hadn’t yet surrendered myself to the trendy green music subscription that all the other cool teens had, so this was my only option. The app operated similarly to the company it was spoofing, only on a smaller scale that allowed for simultaneous watching and browsing.
I can’t remember what exactly I was doing at the time, only that I was letting the app cycle through random songs, not really listening, until a certain turn of phrase caught my attention:
We’re sorry, we hate to interrupt But it’s against the law to jump off this bridge You’ll just have to k– yourself somewhere else A tourist might see you and we wouldn’t want that
Dead Kennedys, “Soup is Good Food”
Maybe it was the irreverence of the statement, but something about it struck me particularly hard. I immediately paused the song and restarted it, this time listening intently.
Up until that point, I didn’t know music could be that way: unabashed, unapologetic and unrestrained.
You Made a Good Meal
“Soup is Good Food” was not the first Dead Kennedys song I heard, but it was the first I really paid attention to.
“Jello Biafra – Dead Kennedys” uploaded by catharine_anderson to Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC-BY-SA 2.0
Released as part of the band’s 1985 album “Frankenchrist,” the song describes (quite blatantly) the plight of the working man in a post-industrial society.
Not only is the working man disposable, but society punishes him for resenting his condition, all the while remaining cheerily apathetic to his misery.
Depression, exhaustion and poor working conditions are socially acceptable in this dystopian society. In fact, this corrupt “system” is fueled by other disenfranchised and disposable workers.
We know how much you’d like to die We joke about it on our coffee breaks But we’re paid to force you to have a nice day In the wonderful world we made just for you
Dead Kennedys, “Soup is Good Food”
This situation isn’t foreign to us. It’s a reality, perhaps even made worse by the innovations of the internet and artificial intelligence.
Killing the Industry
In my opinion, Dead Kennedys is one of the most archetypally punk bands to exist.
Formed in 1978 in San Francisco, Dead Kennedys debuted with their first recorded single, “California Über Alles,” the following year.
The song, a sardonic attack on California Gov. Jerry Brown, was succeeded by the release of “We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now” about President Ronald Reagan.
Both songs likened the two politicans — one a liberal, the other a staunch conservative — to fascist dictators, highlighting the invariable corruption of power when married to a politican’s ideals.
Cover for “Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death” by Dead Kennedys
While Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra eventually conceded that he was “off-base” with Gov. Brown, he levied criticisms regarding Brown’s apparent hesitance to “stand up to the rich people and the land owners who don’t think they should have to pay taxes for the public good.”
Biafra’s readiness to disparage any politican or public figure he felt deserved it, regardless of their political affiliation, colored the work of Dead Kennedys for the remainder of his career.
With the influence of Biafra, Dead Kennedys became a vital cultural force against the social and political climate of the 70s and 80s.
The band was also brazen in its condemnation of the music industry, illustrated with their track “MTV – Get Off the Air” in 1985.
How far will you go, how low will you stoop To tranquilize our minds with your sugar-coated swill You’ve turned rock and roll rebellion into Pat Boone sedation Making sure nothing’s left to the imagination
Dead Kennedys, “MTV – Get Off the Air”
Biafra took great issue with MTV and other similar companies, which he saw as merely the extra limbs of a larger, hegemonic entity.
For Biafra, music was a tool of insurrection. Fame and wealth were unimportant; what Biafra really wanted was to rile the masses, radicalize the youth and make the people in power uncomfortable.
“Riling the masses” is not a new concept for punk, but Dead Kennedys did it arguably better than many others.
*cough cough* Sex Pistols *cough cough*
Final Thoughts
Listening to Dead Kennedys and reading transcripts of Jello Biafra’s spoken word poetry leads me to beg a very age-old question:
Is punk dead?
Counterculture eventually manifests its own type of conformity and stricture. Fashion becomes a uniform and community becomes exclusivity.
Looking at how self-proclaimed “punks” navigate online spaces (Machine Gun Kelly), it can be fairly easy to lose faith in the grassroots core of “punk.”
But when I go to a punk show, I feel a lot different. There’s energy there, barely-restrained fervor that gives way to complete abandon as soon as the music starts.
There are people in studded battle jackets and crust pants, sure, but there are also kids in graphic tees and girls in dresses and fishnets. There are people standing at the edge of the pit and waving lost hats, glasses and wallets.
That’s what punk is to me: people who love wild music and hate the government crashing into each other in a whirlwind of cathartic kinesis.
So, punk isn’t dead. Not really. It just isn’t living on Instagram or Tiktok.
