WALL - Untitled (2017)

If you saw WALL play in NYC or at SXSW (they were No. 2 on Time Out Austin’s top picks for SXSW 2016) you will recognize some of the tracks on their new LP, Untitled. "Everything In Between" was often a set opener, albeit in an instrumental form. Here we find the definitive full band arrangement, which shows a group capable of generating wave after wave of engaging post-punk. First single "High Ratings" advances the strengths of WALL's self-titled EP with it's look at modern anxiety stemming from social media addiction: "We're all guilty," as singer Sam York howls. Their rocking cover of Half Japanese's classic "Charmed Life" is probably the closest track in tone to "Cuban Cigars," the pop moment on the WALL EP. True to the original, it features perfectly skronky sax from Pill’s Ben Jaffe. "River Mansion" displays Vince McClelland's extensive post-punk guitar vocabulary with squalls, shrieks and plinks over the band's elegant Kroutrock groove with York and Skadden's cooing vocals occasionally synching with a slippery guitar riff. Fans of Skadden's former group, Finally Punk will appreciate "Save Me" – a tale of desperation with Skadden sharing lead vocal duties along with York. These are just a few examples of songs from this diverse and intense LP, showing us a band stretching out sonically and stylistically at their peak and right before their untimely demise.

So there you have it -- a testament to a band that formed in an instant, burned brightly and left us with two great records. Did you see WALL at Palisades, The Silent Barn, Alphaville, Union Pool, and all the rest of them? Let this LP remind you or take you there for the first time. Mixed by Mike Kutchman at Kutch 1 Studios and mastered by Josh Bonati.