Puff Pieces at Rock N Roll Hotel
There seems to be a tradition of non-traditional punk in DC and Puff Pieces are very much a part of it, though their musical DNA might just include the band DNA as well. Puff Pieces's music is like rock performed by people who are in shock, or at least stunned by something (the world around them?) The singing is barely inflected but sounds distinctly worried. An anxious, almost mechanical guitar backbeat on most songs heightens the sense of paranoia to a point which is almost comical, or at least absurd (shades of Modern Times perhaps?). The lyrics, though, cover typical punk topics such as gentrification, the excesses of the greedy, and our over-medicated society. It just doesn't sound the least bit typical.
Not that they sound similar but Puff Pieces remind me of Protomartyr. Both bands need a couple of listens before you really "get it". Both bands are in clearly the intellectual/political universe of punk but are doing something more original musically. Oh, and it's hard to mosh to either one. Gee, between that and the backbeat Puff Pieces might just be an alt-Reggae band too...
Posted: 2/4/2018 at 2:00am Tags: Puff Pieces Rock N Roll Hotel
