Protomartyr are a five piece post punk group from Chicago, signed to the label Hardly Art records. The baritone vocals of Joe Casey have been compared to the likes of Ian Curtis (Joy Division) and Nick Cave. Their newest release, The Age Of Intellect, features a unique blend of almost psychedelic spoken word vocals, warm guitar tones in combination with tight, rattling bass lines that make for a unique blend of poetic noisepunk inspired pop music.
The song ‘The Hermit’ was a standout from one of my
favourite albums of 2015. The high energy start to the song goes balls deep,
the guitar tones sound like a machine gun, the background sampling sounds give
a modern twist to the postpunk sound that has been around since before the
1970s.
In my opinion ‘guitar bands’ are a dying breed among the
iPad generation where every derp who doesn’t listen exclusively listen to ZM
and The Edge has access to a myriad of talented underground artists across
every genre. Electronic artists seem to be constantly re-inventing themselves
and producing some of the most innovative music of all time. Bands like
Protomartyr are proof that the expression, innovation and passion that can be
poured into a couple of planks of wood with wire attached to them can still compete
with the most talented Macbook Pro musicians of today.
This album gets a 4.0/5.0 from me. If you are a walking
Hamilton stereotype who listens exclusively to Tool you will probably still like
this band. You can stream this album for
free on Spotify.
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