Sydney band officially kicks off summer with a classic indie surf banger.
Between March and May, I listened to a couple hundred new albums, and only one got me excited enough to review — Blood Ceremony. While there has been plenty of decent releases, most of it left me cold as corpse. Has the music world had a rough few months, or am I just too old or dead inside? Probably a little of everything. Thankfully a batch of five great albums were released on June 2 that are all contenders for the Lucky 13 so far this year. The strong winner for release of the week is Sydney’s Body Type. I was smitten from the very first notes of “Ludlow (Do You Believe in Karma?)” in 2018. And unlike a lot of bands, their steady evolution from their first EPs through their second full length, which was already written when Everything Is Dangerous but Nothing’s Surprising was released last year, has them deepening the charm of their early work. Usually for me, a band’s attempt to write poppier material feels forced. But Expired Candy sounds like a very natural, even effortless evolution, a band on a roll when the great songs just flow continuously.
Case in point, “Holding On” is so un-selfconsciously exuberant, the three vocalists trading lines sound so in tune with one another you’d never guess it was written when everyone was isolated in lockdown. The words of the chorus, “My love is dark and like a weapon – I’m holding on,” might suggest the narrator is hanging over the abyss with gritted teeth, but the execution is pure celebratory resilience. “Just like a coastal climate – but I am too obsessed / A monsoon that makes a mess! A mess! YEAH!”
While some languid post-slowcore tempos can still be found on “Tread Overhead” and “Beat You Up, (I’ve described it as trip jam in the past, but it never stuck), the pace is generally quick and crisp, with jangling surf guitars, blended seamlessly with elements of riot grrrl, post-punk, indie, garage, grunge and noise pop. Such is the strength of this album that everyone seems to have a different favorite track, from the breezy love song “Weekend,” one of the only songs to measure up to Sleater-Kinney’s driving best in “Miss the World,” the serrated edges of “Anti-Romancer.” There’s also the heart-melting chorus of “Dream Girls” that recalls the best moments of Stereolab’s ethereal beauty. The album concludes with one last candidate for best track with “Shake Yer Memory,” with the finely crafted poetry delivered with rapidfire precision.
Sleep on this album or underrate it at your own peril. Hindsight will show this as an event album, where the torch has been passed on from tourmates the Pixies. After glancing regretfully down at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who completely cratered with their crushingly disappointing Cool It Down (2022), And serious question, were the Go-Go’s ever this great? Not really. They had some bangers, but the albums were always unsatisfying. Body Type shows everyone how great indie rock and pop can be.
