Silicone Values How to Survive When People Don’t Like You and You Don’t Like Them LP
Hook-laden synth punk that doesn’t shy away from embracing a melody and juxtaposing the sweetness with some seriously bleak lyrical content. Appropriately lo-fi, How to Survive When People Don’t Like You and You Don’t Like Them compiles a series of disparate online releases and commits them to vinyl, courtesy of Parisian label SDZ. SILICONE VALUES pull off the rare feat of making their songs feel monumental and understated all at once. Harkening back to the seminal acts of first-gen post-punk, the Bristol collective shakes out fifteen cuts that would make STEVE TREATMENT blush. Like a more restrained SWELL MAPS or a more agitated TELEVISION PERSONALITIES? Yeah, SILICONE VALUES paint from the same palette, but the rendering is stark and defoliated. Despite the references this collection doesn’t sound dated. More the product of timeless influences piped through the damage of a depressingly modern world, executed with incisive wit and off-the-cuff charm. The limited pressing of 200 copies worldwide may make this hard to come by, but easily worth the effort to track down.