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The debut cassette by Washington, DC trio Flasher. Formerly known as Young Trynas, the band includes members of Priests and Big Hush. Jagged post-punk riffs dusted with stomp-box haze. Preview the song "Erase Myself" via Pitchfork.
Our take: Debut cassette from this new DC band featuring a couple of folks from the excellent Young Trynas. Flasher dials back the aggression a bit from Young Trynas (which was tough enough to actually warrant a Madball comparison in their label's description of the record), pursuing something a little denser and more ethereal. Nowadays anything that's musically sophisticated and even a wee bit aggressive gets called post-punk, and I'm sure that's how folks will tag Flasher, but it certainly doesn't seem to be grounded in the Fall, Bauhaus, Joy Division, or the Wipers, which tend to be the four influences people think of when they use that term. Flasher do fit into a lineage of post-punk music because they're a bit on the heavy side, but they clearly also delight in experimentation, incorporating new wave-y synths into some tracks and relying on a lot of intricate rhythmic interplay between the guitar, bass, and drums. It's a bit more pop/song-oriented than something like Frau, not as punk as Good Throb, and not as melodic as Primetime, but at the same time seems to be working with a similar palette of influences as those bands, so if you've been following that scene or the wave of interesting stuff coming out of DC (including Young Trynas and Priests) this is well worth checking out, and with nearly a full-lengths worth of music it's quite the bargain too.