Artificial Go Hopscotch Fever LP
They apparently only started the project at the beginning of this year, but Cincinnati’s ARTIFICIAL GO cut right to the chase with their debut LP (and debut, period) Hopscotch Fever. An incessant wiggle of of sparse and trebly guitar, solidly skeletal drumming, and mannered, alternately animated/nonplussed faux-Brit-accented vocals are roughed-up in a charmingly lo-fi and ramshackle recording, placing yet another daisy in the chain connecting today’s Midwestern post-punk weirdos to both the art school new wave eccentricity of SUBURBAN LAWNS and the scratchy naivety of late ’70s/early ’80s Rough Trade—the sort of band that would perform on rollerskates while decked out in loud, upcycled vintage outfits neo-New Wave Theatre-style, as they do in the video for “Pay Phone.” The taut, rhythmic herky-jerk of “Artificial Go” and the spacious brokedown disco groove snaking through “On Off” cast ARTIFICIAL GO as the less rambunctious kid siblings to their Feel It fam SPREAD JOY, as “Walk Like a Dog” and “Feeling Foxy” unwind into an ultra-minimalist, lopsided jangle like a modern BONA DISH, with Angie Willcutt’s too-cool vocal indifference buttoning everything up just so. Can’t really blame them for skipping any demo/single introduction formalities when they had this up their sleeves.