by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
The great Geelong punk band Vintage Crop are back with Kibitzer, the band’s latest full length and the follow up to 2020’s great Serve to Serve Again. Due out on June 24th once again via the combo of Upset The Rhythm (Nicfit, Clear History, Screensaver) and Anti Fade Records (Modal Melodies, Alien Nosejob, Power Supply), the band’s fourth album is harsh and primal, but there’s a new attention to both melodic detail and the occasional harmonies. The riffs wander and shift constantly, the rhythms pound, and the lyrics take an abstract approach, full of snide humor and punchy indifference.
“Double Slants” is the album’s first single, a song that highlights the many changes in Vintage Crop’s approach, without losing any of what we’ve come to love about the band. They haven’t so much tamed their sound on their latest single so much as made it more dynamic, pushing more nuance than ever before into their taut songwriting. “Double Slants” takes a racing theme, driving home the idea in the chorus, “Its a race to the front of the pack, double slants coming from the pack,” the song itself presenting the idea of being happy with where you’re at.
Speaking about “Double Slants” video, the band’s Jack Cherry shared:
“We filmed the video in an afternoon out the front of my now abandoned childhood home. We took the sport and racing themes from the lyrics to create something kind of odd, twisted and very funny. Leland Buckle (the director) took a lot of liberties with the editing and really mirrored the absurdity and humour that are present in the lyrics of ‘Double Slants.’”