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Hi Sorry State fam! Feels like forever since we’ve hung out! Hope all is well with everyone. It is scary how fast the year has flown by. The fact that Hopscotch is this week is nuts. I’m not going this year, but it feels like it was maybe 3 months ago that I was there last year. I really wish the Hopscotch gods would let us pay for individual late night shows at least, because ISS, Mutant Strain, and Zorn are playing a show that would be really fun to see.
Jesus, as I was adding the intro to my staff pick I was overcome by the worst smell permeating my abode. My cat pissed on the couch as though he’d been saving it for weeks. He is just a spoiled little demon who communicates his unhappiness with not getting 24/7 attention by pissing on furniture. The one day we forgot to put something on top of it to keep him off. I have another cat, Luca (yes from the song) who is an angel in every way. But Julien (named after Robert Downy Jr in the dark indie flick Less than Zero) is not. Maybe it’s the name. He was bound for trouble.
Oh well. Let’s get into it.
My pick this week is the latest release called We are Making a New World from the band Gimic. This is the second EP from the Bristol band known for their unique blend of punk and punk-adjacent sounds. Gimic is packed full of flavor drawn from punk, hardcore, art-punk, post-punk, and everything in between. It’s dancey and fun and manic and agitated and totally unleashed. The opening track called Irrational Demographic sucked me right in with its mean and taunting vocals that sound like a weapon that could lay you out in one minute and 47 seconds. I get that same feeling when I hear the singer from the band 7 Year Bitch. Totally different genre and style, but the vocals project a special kind of “fuck around and find out.”
They have big substantial riffs, tempo swings, and style shifts that keep it interesting start to finish. The closing track (same title as the record) is absolutely fucking killer. It’s my favorite but Irrational Demographic is a close second.
So on this last banger of a track, they ease into the song with a slower tempo. The bass and guitar start really clean and infused with a little groove, soon to be roughed up by the singer’s raw but measured words. This song is a blast. It’s that slow build when you’re heading up the steep hill of a roller coaster. Bad analogy because you know what’s about to happen in that situation, but the song’s next step isn’t so obvious. The only commonality is that both start slow then go fast.
It isn’t long before the speed builds, the bass gets faster and more melodic, and the guitar just rips. My favorite part is how the singer starts out with an almost spoken word style (for like 15 seconds, and it’s not a monologue, she’s just not quite singing yet). You see how defensive I just got there, to make sure you knew it wasn’t a spoken word song? Is there something in between spoken word and singing? If so, that intro part is that.
But very soon after that, she just seamlessly delivers a fast and incredibly infectious verse with such a catchy flow and great melody. It makes for a totally killer verse that makes you want to move. That’s the cool thing about Gimic. You could use these songs as a soundtrack to your meltdown OR to jump around and dance and have fun with.
What I love about this record most is when the bass and guitar are rather chill and clean, as it’s the perfect backdrop for the erratic and sometimes threatening vocals. I’m really drawn to the blending or meshing together of two totally different things. In pretty much any context. You know, like leather and lace (I borrowed that one), sweet and spicy, polite punks. The list could go on and on.
Something else I dig about this record is that it really is a mix of the things that characterize different sub genres of punk, but it’s hardcore at the foundation. If you listen close you catch some simple and dry art punk and the deconstructed nature of post-punk, some early 80s Dischord, classic snotty UK punk, and other unexpected twists and turns. They’re passionate, they’re all-in, and anything but predictable. Gimic is one to look out for. They know what they’re doing. More please.
Thanks so much for reading ya’ll! Until we meet again my friends…
-Angela