WHO ARE THEY? A peculiar psyche-punk pair from Porto, Portugal. If that sentence doesn’t have enough Ps in it for you, they also call themselves pretty and promising. They could also have included potent, punchy, powerful and perplexing.
WHAT IS THIS? Their third full-length album in four years — though they’ve also released a few EPs and singles since arriving on this planet in 2014. It also seems to be some sort of concept album about some sort of epic battle between “Master” and “our heroes,” aka God (or aliens) and Man. I think.
WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE? A bizarrely compelling confluence of contradictory elements — searingly fuzzy garage-rock guitars and swirly bleeping keyboards, Devo-style robo-beats and insectile textures, demented vocals and primally pounding drumbeats. Very little of it makes sense. None of it belongs together. But somehow, they all end up fitting into one another like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that reveals the inner workings of life, the universe and everything.
WHAT ARE THE MOST REVEALING LYRICS? ‘And soon they all will die not understanding why / They were put on this godforsaken Earth / And life shall run along, someone else will sing their song / As they realize they’ll soon be under dirt.’
WHAT SHOULD IT BE TITLED? Master Planet.
HOW SHOULD I LISTEN TO IT? From start to finish. Not that it will necessarily help you figure out what the hell is going on. But it can’t hurt.
WHAT 10 WORDS SUM IT UP? Weird, unpredictable, messy, disjointed, skewed, ambitious, unique, expansive, noisy, multi-faceted.
WHAT ARE THE BEST SONGS? The handful of vocal tracks, including Oscillations, A Conflict Taking Place and Dreamweaver.
WHAT WILL MY FRIENDS SAY? ‘If these two are anything to go by, I guess I have to start checking rock bands from Portugal now.’
HOW OFTEN WILL I LISTEN TO IT? You’ll be back — and you’ll bring people with you. It’s too strange not to share.
IF THIS ALBUM WERE FURNITURE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? A Fletcher Capstan Table.
SHOULD I BUY, STREAM OR STEAL IT? I’d pay money just to know what the hell it’s all about.
