Liner Notes- 14.July.2022

Photo: Stevehoffman.tv

“The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.”

~Bruce Springsteen

---

Record reviews:

This year I took on the challenge of reviewing 100 new (to me) records. It’s been a blast so far, and I’ve now arrived at the halfway marker. Below are the 48th,49th, & 50th in the series.

Working Men’s Club- Working Men’s Club (2020)

When you grow up in a small town (or suburbs), you quickly figure out that there isn't a lot to do except go to school & listen to music. And maybe form a band in there somewhere too. You mark time until you can go off to college.

And so it was for Working Men's Club frontman Syd Minsky-Sargeant.

Working Men's Club's debut record almost feels like Minsky-Sargeant was completing a school project. The assignment; go into your parent's or older sibling's record collection, pull out the New Order, Fall, and Kraftwerk records, and combine them into something new.

Despite a few bumps ("Let in me or let me out/Let me scream now" is boilerplate teen angst), the result is remarkably polished for being made by someone so young.

Opener "Valleys" sounds like Technique-era New Order, and by the time the 12+ minute finale "Angel" is over, we've been on quite a ride.

There's plenty of teenage angst here- the original lineup imploded soon after release- but not before creating an energetic, cynical record even Mark E. Smith would enjoy listening to.

Note: The band's follow-up album, Fear Fear, will be released later this year. You can catch the first few songs here.

Other reviews: