“Punk as Fuck” is American Analog Set’s definitive tune and never simply because it’s their hottest. The opener of 2001’s Know by Coronary heart doesn’t hit all that totally different than “A Good Pal is All the time Round,” “Come Dwelling Child Julie, Come Dwelling,” “Dim Stars (The Boy in My Arms),” or every other tune with a title that extra precisely displays the Austin band’s music. Their bashful tackle slowpoke indie rock was initially seen as an extension of Yo La Tengo and Stereolab, and it was a formative affect on Ben Gibbard, who appeared on an AmAnSet monitor named “The Postman” two years earlier than Give Up. All through their preliminary run straddling the flip of the twenty first century, the Austinites caught to at least one sound, and so they had a humorousness in regards to the repute it earned them.
The great factor about having such an outlined aesthetic is that any incremental adjustment can have a profound impression, like a cruise ship crusing half a level off beam. For Without end, the primary American Analog Set album in 18 years, doesn’t actually rock, however it’s not afraid to get in your face. The devices are stripped of the cottony manufacturing of their Emperor Jones period, the synths utterly devoid of retro kitsch. You’d determine {that a} tune that shares its title with a Judas Priest traditional can be For Without end’s “Punk as Fuck,” an ironic allusion to all the pieces this band is just not. However “Screaming for Vengeance” actually is essentially the most steel factor American Analog Set have ever made, if solely as a result of the combo is totally dominated by a bass riff that judders like a close-mic’d trampoline spring.
It’s all relative, however “the toughest American Analog Set album” nonetheless applies. As with a lot of his friends within the early aughts, Andrew Kenny’s lyrics had a imply streak masked by a librarian whisper. However as each sound on For Without end turns into extra inflexible and aggressive, Kenny takes on a snarl that highlights the nastier tone. Whereas “Over the Denims” and “By the Bridle” may very well be interpreted as obituaries for the indie rom-com period that American Analog Set helped soundtrack, “Screaming for Vengeance” has little room for interpretation. “It’s younger love/You get fucked/You’re gonna bleed rather a lot,” he hisses.
