by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Way back in the beginning of February, UK post-punk band The Cool Greenhouse released a new EP, Crap Cardboard Pet, an exceptionally repetitive record with enough sardonic humor to please the most cynical of us all. It’s the type of sound that could be infuriating if you weren’t so engaged in the lyrics (both socially conscious and snippy) or locked into the simplistic grooves. Not a month has gone by and the band are ready to share their next release, Landlords, a new 7” single due out via Drunken Sailor Records (Vintage Crop, Booji Boys, Urochromes) on March 1st.
Their latest single, while still minimalist and built on discordant Casio blips and sharp guitars that nearly sound programmed, comes with a great deal of social unrest to unpack in an ever so calmly anguished look at the class divide and the housing market. “Landlords” is a terrifically developed reflection of those collecting money for rent and those struggling to pay that rent. What the song lacks in dynamic shifts, it more than makes up for in thoughtful quips and prickly reminders of the inequality that favors the folks with money to burn.
All profits from copies purchased from The Cool Greenhouse’s Bandcamp page will be going to the London Renters Union, a grassroots organization looking to change the way the city’s housing system works.