Bikini Style

PURE ROCK N’ ROLL ENERGY!!! From Seattle, Popular Shapes play driving punk with a sound framed largely in power pop but paying diligent respect to artsy punk and a touch of no wave. Most of the time it works really fucking well!!!! The vocals are excellent, with a midrange tone that vaguely reminds me of Johnny Rotten. Play with such icons as Les Savy Fav, Unwound. Also, the Pixies come quickly to mind. There are some excellent tracks here. 7, 8, 4 ,1, 5.

1. relentless, a lot of fun, another voice that approximates rotten
2. driving with a big chorus, in your fucking face, poppy at end
3. bouncy, accented, then a powerpoppy chorus w/ backing vocals
4. opens w/ drums, more garagy, very effective break w/ layers of vox
5. slow sinister midtempo, mathy guitars, could be from DC
6. guitar riff + turnaround repetition, doesn’t quite work for me.
7. floor tom it, here we go, driving, some noise, excellent energy
8. proggy guitar leads, bouncy tempo, dissonant guitar interplay
9. power pop, this will sell, guys, yes, but don’t do it, don’t do it!