You know how in the future they've got those software capsules you can inject into your brain and all of a sudden you know everything about kung fu or how to fly a helicopter? Well, consider the self-titled US debut from New Zealand's Shocking Pinks an early forerunner of that technology. But instead of learning something useful, like how to fight zombies or whatever, you're downloading a compact history of hipster indie rock. The disjointed nature of the record - 17 tracks, many under a minute long - enable mastermind Nick Harte to try on, and discard just as quickly, any number of recent history's most memorable musical aesthetic costumes. And so the My Bloody Valentine-style feedback atmospherics of song sketches like "Wake Up" give way to the lo-fi New Order bass hooks of "This Aching Deal." Then they move on to the forlorn wordsmith-pop of Belle and Sebastian on "How Am I Not Myself?" and the dreamy fuzz rock of Jesus and Mary Chain on "Second Hand Girl." And that's just on the first few songs. Throughout, Harte infuses much of the record with the chopped-up high-hat propulsion of DFA-style dance-floor abandon that makes studying your history a lot of fun. [Luke O'Neil]
ESSENTIAL "Jealousy"
