Check Out The Latest Brash Offering From Denton’s Razorbumps, Whose Snide Attitude Is Taking The Band All The Way To Coachella Next Month.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

Razorbumps – “Teach Me Something New”
RIYL: Something new.
What else you should know: When John Hodge (Bad Sports, Lost Balloons, Kira Jari) and Andy Messer (ANS, Kira Jari, Stymie) left Denton punk band Razorbumps late last year, original members Austin Waymire and Jenni Smyth commissioned the help of Keaton Khonsari and became a trio instead of a quartet.

Now, with Hodge no longer on the drums, the band is steering towards a post-punk direction and using a drum machine in its offerings.

To some, that may sound tacky considering the band’s signature garage-punk aesthetic. But consider the following:

  1. Steve Albini did it in Big Black.
  2. It’s post-punk we’re ultimately talking about here, and drum machines aren’t exactly unheard of in that sub-genre.

A left turn though it may be, it’s not a complete 180 – you can still hear the early Devo influences, albeit a bit more subtly than before. Moreover, Razorbumps’ signature earmarks are still part of the equation, whether they be Smyth’s piercing vocal delivery (think Raincoats, but more assertive), the lo-fi garage rock chord progressions, the catchy hooks or the somewhere-north-of-one-minute-long brevity of each song.

These qualities manifest in one of two new songs the band released, recently.

The track in question is called “Teach Me Something New.” It kicks off with a chord progression that is soaked more in reverb than expected. The drum machine’s snare instrumental sounds more explosive than that of an analog snare, but beyond that, it achieves the same sensation.

The two bands that come to mind most when listening to this track are Gang of Four and Killing Joke. You can also hear a bit of Stooges, MC5, Wire and Kleenex in it as well.

All-in-all, the song embodies a slight stylistic change that’s tasteful and, ultimately, seems to be paying off.

See it in action as Razorbumps opens for Gorilla Biscuits, Judge and Candy at Canton Hall this Friday, March 15. Or just fly out to Coachella next month and see them there.

Cover image via the band’s Facebook.

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