New stuff from Sleep School’s Joel Werner and his other band, only this time instead of heavy-headed slow-fi they’re dealing in abrasive garage punk with the kind of brash attitude that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in late 2002 (AKA the Summer of the Scissor Kick). Not that I wanna tar them with the same brush as The Vines/The Hives/evs since with the exception of Is This It the entire sub-musical happening has been edited out of the history of noughts indie rock, but in any case this isn’t all that similar, just the hyper-confident vocal stylings. Which are essential anyway, because the riffz on this track are some fucking badass sounding shit: rolling, distorted bass with guitars getting all math-rock somewhere in the background. Also, there’s a fuckload of shouting. The three members of Border Thieves all used to play in other, more delicately-inclined indie pop bands like The Golden Age and i [love] Space, but I’m glad they found each other because this is heaps better.
[Border Thieves MySpace]
