by Matt Watton (@brotinus)
Traps PS is unrelenting. Unrelenting in their longevity – they’ve been on my radar since 2010 when they were playing guerilla shows in downtown LA. Unrelenting in their output – Prim Dicer marks their fourth LP since 2013 (their first on Mock Records), to accompany as many EPs. Unrelenting in their music – their brand of funky anarchic dance-punk is immediately recognizable by its dogged, driving rhythms and spastic eruptions of vocals and guitar. Gang of Four, the Minutemen, and 80’s no wave are obvious touchstones, and Traps PS deserve to be counted as peers to Oh Sees and predecessors of recent faves Spread Joy and Viagra Boys (sans saxophone).
The punchy opener of Prim Dicer, “White Halls,” immediately grabs you by the hair as it crescendos toward its off-kilter conclusion. Tracks like “Gear Costume” and “Civil Resistor” encapsulate the band’s signature sound: a shuffling backbeat is punctuated by a flurry of stabbing guitars and fits of exasperated lyrics. Throughout the record it feels as if there’s a war going on – the steadfastness of drummer Miles Wintner and bassist Danny Miller fight to tether the chaos of singer-guitarist Andrew Jeffords. At times the rhythm section has the upper hand, as with the punch-and-pop bassline on “Metaphor” or the disco-esque high-hat groove on the single “Etc”. Yet on tracks like “Fever” and “Prim Dicer,” the chaos wins out, guitars wail against flams of cymbals and snares while Jeffords cries out like David Byrne walking on hot coals.
A lesser band might have indulged themselves and stretched out some of these hypnotizing grooves into five+ minute jams but Traps PS exhibits a self-imposed restraint – the longest track (“The Cast”) is just 3:11. The effect is disorienting: as one frenetic song ends another immediate begins, leaving little space to digest. This directness means each track is brimming with a sense of urgency and excitement. You hear this on the bizarro funk of “Voids”: as Jeffords repeatedly snarls “Hearts will race!,” the galloping drums and trebly guitar make it so. The erratic rhythms of “Warbler” blend into the eschatological laments on “Purse Trills” without a second to come up for air. There are fleeting moments where the band is able to contain this manic pitch and approach a kind of rah-rah pop energy, like on “Volume Drag” and “Et Errs”.
Traps PS have mastered a kind of infectious dissonance. The jagged song structures and cutting guitars repel you while the eminently danceable rhythms draw you in. It’s this hectic, dynamic paradox that makes Prim Dicer such a relentlessly good listen.