WWW

Reviews

WWW Live From Del Valle Estadio EP

Four songs of Argentinian egg-punk, recorded live in the studio with crowd applause added for effect. I would’ve never known this was a live recording were it not advertised as such. The sound quality is excellent, as is the performance—WWW is tighter than a hipster’s refrigerated skinny jeans. Everything is really locked-in, from the precise staccato drumming, to the clean, jangly guitar. Unlike some of their contemporaries, WWW doesn’t rely too heavily on effects, and I believe that is part of what makes their delivery so crisp and snappy. There’s just enough atmosphere around the synth to give the vocals something to counterbalance. The songs are catchy and over before you know it, warranting multiple back-to-back listens. Leaning more towards garage punk than new wave, WWW lands somewhere between PRISON AFFAIR and REAL PEOPLE. Another solid release from Sweet Time Records.

WWW Mundo Virtual cassette

Five short tracks of sci-fi punk/DEVO worship from Argentina. You want egg-punk? Here’s the egg. This has to be the logical extension of the nerdiest music associated with the genre. The first four tracks all open with various forms of technology firing up (phones ringing, dial-up modems, etc.), followed by crunchy synth overload. The vocals are run through some sort of warbly, distorted insect effect and mixed really high so they override everything else. The cumulative listening experience is over-the-top and unpleasant. Forget egg-punk—this is irritant punk. The lyrics are in Spanish, so I’m not sure what they say, but the band’s description describes them as being about the harmful relationship between humans and electronics. Take this tape as an example. The final song, “Placer Artificial,” is much better and sounds like it had more effort involved (and they ditch the vocal effect). There’s some CONEHEADS influence on the vocals and several layers of catchy synth lines. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come for any future WWW releases.