Protomartyr

I've always felt a strong similarity w/ The National re: drumming, too. I'm only really super-familiar with Alligator but I feel like at least on that record, the deceptively simple-sounding, propulsive rhythms that are super minimal but still somehow function as the lead instrument in the band (to my ears, anyway) have always been what Protomartyr's drums remind me of.

have we talked enough about what a great lyricist Joe Casey is?

we have not. I went looking for a juicy quote from Ultimate Success Today but half the fun really is in his delivery.

When the ending comes, is it gonna run at us like a wild-eyed animal?
A foreign disease washed upon the beach
A dagger plunged from out of the shadows
A cosmic grief beyond all comprehension
All good laid low by outside evil
Against belief, a riot in the streets
A giant beast turning mountains into black holes
Fiction! Fiction!
No, none of that, rolling in your heads
Reality has a far duller edge

I recall seeing the pope
Pontiac 1987
Money changing between hands
Outside the Silverdome
Afterwords a riot broke
Old folks turned brutish
Trampling their way out the gates
Towards heaven

One of my very favorite songs (even after I realized that it reminds me of Interpol)

it has already been posted above but this is an all-time lmao:

There's the failed lawyer haunting teen-punk shows
He'll explain his top 5 for 09 and what to eat
But, if you ever saw his bald-skull head
You'd be certain he'd been dead for weeks

And that's the story of the happy thief who provided content
To that ceaseless chill-out stream

stop-stop-hes-already-dead.gif

Universal Success Whatever is easily their worst record. Lacks the mystery. And the tunes. I love this band. It's like when you get tired of your favorite sandwich.

All of a sudden they're not a puzzle.

Jack My Fruit. Now motherfucker. Or else.

new album in June! first single, "Make Way"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc2bqR33RNM

Good to hear. Was a little worried about the guy after a pandemic interview where he seemed really down about being stuck home.

feels like the new album kind of snuck out, haven't really seen any reviews or reactions. i like it, seems like they're stretching their boundaries a bit in terms of songwriting and arrangements while still sounding like protomartyr

Keep wanting to say something like “wow that run from Polacrilex to Rain Garden is an amazing expansion of their sound” but then I’d be leaving out the other half of the record lol

Yeah, I really like this one a lot.

i'm in