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MORE KICKS are big favorites of this blog's readership, and that will certainly continue with the release of the great new 7" EP Animal on legendary labels Dirtnap and Stardumb Records. The title track, a preview of the band's forthcoming LP Punch Drunk, sounds like nothing this band has ever done before. Yet it's another reminder of why James Sullivan is one of the most highly-regarded songwriters in the punk/garage/power pop universe. "Animal" is a pop song, no doubt -- but one with a hard, angular edge and brutally self-aware lyrics. You always expect this band to deliver the goods, but this is next-level stuff. The song opens with a riff that brings to mind a post-punk band trying to play "My Sharona," and there are echoes of Pete Shelley in Sulli's phrasing. If you like catchy riffs, catchy choruses, and catchy everything, you need "Animal" on your summer playlist. I'm absolutely fascinated by these lyrics. When Sulli sings, "But the human world to me it seems too full/I'd rather jack it in to be an animal," I can't decide whether we're supposed to fear him or want to join him. Exclusive to this 7" are the two B-side tracks. "The Wind Up" is in the band's usual wheelhouse of consummate crunching power trio pop but with slightly noisier leanings. "10 Miles High" is a lovely little acoustic number that leaves a perfect melody floating in your head. If these gentlemen can leave songs this good off the album, you know the album is going to be something else!
Faster and Louder