Warp: Traffic Control 12″

Description

“Real punk from America’s cruelest town. Hatched in 2017 via an assemblage of FLESH WORLD, MALLARD and BLANK SQUARE personnel, WARPs from-the-hip attack immediately streamlined The Bays skulls, prompting sudsy devotion across spiked and freaked schools alike, a vibrant punk band operating amidst all the scooter-share inhumanity.

The damage spills from the central screaming dual-guitar tangle, a riff tract neighboring the elegantly bruised and dynamic AGNEW / BAIZA axis, exerting too much power for the troposphere. Rhythms twist and barrel depending on need, always leaping forward, propelling each taut composition into realms unthinkable from count-off. Tikas smarm-centric vocal steering wonderfully absurdist and unreservedly pissed offers exactly the sort of punky exfoliation so very needed in these days of constant cringe.” Mitch Cardwell

Thrilling Living quite gleefully presents Traffic Control to an ill-prepared populace. Limited to 400 copies on black vinyl, housed in full color sleeves with a double-sided Risographed insert.

Our take: Debut vinyl from this Bay Area punk band. Warp plays music thats right in my sweet spot, with all the catchiness of a classic punk band, the energy of a great hardcore band, and the complexity of something you could labelpost- something or another. Maybe Im flattering myself since I play guitar in the band, but Warp reminds me of Sorry States own No Love, particularly on tracks like Sheet Cake and Makeup, which are both catchy but tough-sounding rather than melodic. That being said, they throw some unexpected ingredients in to the mix like the staccato anarcho rhythms on the title track and the swirling, psychedelic double-tracked guitars on the climactic closer Goat. The lyrics are also brilliant, surreal yet thought-provoking. The lyrics to Traffic Control, Cellophane, and Sheet Cake are worth the price of admission alone. For instance, heres the full lyric for Cellophane: Stick of butter, butterball. Throw a brick of butter, butter on the wall. Broken bucket with a big ol hole. Dont bet on a bucket thatll never get full. Sorry, baby, hes silver cellophane. I used to teach a college-level introduction to poetry course, and I could havespent an entire class period on that one. I doubt youre surprised Thrilling Living has put out another record I Love, but Ill confirm this ones a keeper.