They come on jerky and acute, however, they end with a slick dance track. Echoing guitars harken back to New Wave acts while the barked vocals are straight No Wave. Emotions are evoked by the harshness of the tones, distortion yawped out of transistor amps, and the never-relenting robotic pulse of the rhythm section–not by any sentimentality in the lyrics or pathos emitted by the singer. Electronica makes its influence felt in more than just the remix that ends this EP. (Since when did it become mandatory for every New-New Wave band to go the route of Metric and have a MSTRKRFT-sounding remix?) Dense with guitar dissonance–and yet spacious in that the band eschews leaden power chording–offering confounding deviations from rockist or pop conventions, irritating the consciousness with cryptic sloganeering, this album drops abrasives into your thought processes and enucleation will build up little pearls of wisdom around the irritants left in the wake of this music’s passage. “These streets are lined with chain stores,” goes the refrain of Perfect Competition, over and over again. You can bet I will be mulling this over for some time to come. (EW)
CD, www.myspace.com/thewednesdaysociety