by Chris Prod
Warm Bodies, the eponymous debut LP of the Kansas City group, is an exhibition in the bizarre. The album cover is adorned with several crudely drawn characters in crayon, vaguely childlike, making it hard not to draw some parallels to art brut. Fully succumbing to Warm Bodies’ eccentricities is more of a joy than a drag, however, as this record is just so god damn fun.
One of the more impressive feats of this album, is its ability to tie subject matter to sonic quality. Tracks like ‘Something Weird Is Eating Me’ actually tap into genuinely upsetting prospects as lead singer Olivia Gibb shrieks phrases like ‘Icky! Icky! Icky! Icky!’ while guitarist Ian Teeple thrashes forward never really letting you catch your breath.
‘Psychic Connection’ starts with messy guitar-work, eventually steadying itself just enough to launch into full-on riff city, finally elevating into screeching, stabbing licks before breaking down and doing it all over again.
It’s weird to say about an art punk record with as many hooks (‘I need a Doctor!’, (She need a doctor!’)) as oddities (a minute-long track entitled ‘Stink dUMBOMix’ that’s basically an experimental electronic song) as Weird Bodies, but it is undeniably hardcore and rips extremely hard. These weirdos have made one of the best punk records of the year.