PYPY - Pagan Day

Distortion, speed, chaos! Art-punk from Montreal.

PYPY is something of garage punk supergroup, made up of members of Montreal's CPC Gangbangs, Red Mass, and Duchess Says. With a sound that's a mix of the Slits and Cale-era Velvets drone, injected with the amphetamine rush of garage rock. The overall effect is like Link Wray's been to art college.

Opening with the album's title track, a slashed speaker, graffiti splattered wall of noise complete with freakout guitars, fuzzed-up bass, and football terrace, glam-stomp beats. The mantra being - If three chords is good, then two chords is better, and it's a tactic that suits the band well. Like the title suggests, it's time to put away any beliefs, get primitive and back to basics and well, see what happens!

Molly is the closest the album gets to pop, with traditional verse/chorus/verse structure and girl/boy vocals. Any notion of safe territory thankfully scuppered by a Tom Verlaine-esque guitar solo. Daffodils has echoes of art-infused post-punk. Think PIL or Siouxsie, it's punk but with an eye on the disco floor. Hypnotic and slightly sinister.

Too Much Cocaine is a nightmare journey about having taken too much cocaine (who woulda thought?!?) Its a manic diary of paranoia over a jerky dance-spasm rhythm. Lesson indeed to just say no, eh kids! She's Gone takes the glitter beat and gives it a space-punk makeover, with wah-wah guitar breaks reminiscent of Loop or Spacemen 3.

Ya Ya Ya is a short, sharp blistering ode to dumb-assery, which gives way the album's closing instrumental track Psychedelic Overlords which edges towards stoner rock territory. It's these two final tracks that perhaps best sum up the dual nature of PYPY; a garage rock band that's not afraid to venture out of the genre's narrow confines, towards something more adventurous and experimental. Good on 'em I say! If you're looking for something to take you out of your comfort zone this could be just the thing.

 

Click here for PYPY online.

Pagan Day is out now on Black Gladiator/Slovenly Records.