by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Just who is Greg Electric, and more importantly, are they here to save us all from monotonous music? Welp, Greg Electric is a new band from Philadelphia, a DIY super-group of sorts, and yes... they most definitely are here for that. The band, which features current and former members of Nine of Swords, Ted Nguyent, and Loose Tooth, released their self-titled debut EP today, a furiously skronky beast of hardcore yelps and tangled chord progressions. Rachel Gordon's (Nine of Swords, Baby Mollusk) vocals offer that perfected bite and bark balanced with detached concern, teaming with disdain between a melodic and rhythmic approach. The band, Mike McGilloway (guitar), Dan Wolf (drums), and Kian Sorouri (bass) dart back and forth, guitars intertwining as the rhythms quake behind them. It's all delivered with an agile chaos, densely working up fits of sputtering rage and sludgy grooves. The band set up sing-song melodies just to shatter them with brutality moments later. It's all pretty menacing and abrasive, and it's a most impressive debut.
"Opener" is a jarring introduction, starting sweetly enough (and pretty blown-out), only to rail itself into a knotted mess. Gordon's vocals move between a gentle innocence and an agitated howl, the aggression coming to a head as the time elapses. While rough around the edges, Greg Electric sound explosive, contorting themselves in cathartic bursts of destructive punk. As Gordon shouts "how you gonna say this, then fucking do that?" on "Hysterical," it becomes clear, your bullshit will not be tolerated, nor should it be. There's a sense of force even in the subdued and hypnotic repetition of "egged on, let on, strung along" and a fury that has been tempered by realization that she deserves better. Digging into the gnarled math rock and snaking rhythms, "Are You Sleeping?" is a spasm of shifting tempos and Gordon's harshest vocals. As one of our favorite front-people out there, we're thrilled to hear Gordon's pummeling vocals and impassioned lyrics find a great new band to back them up.