Music, Record Reviews

New Record: Prinzhorn Dance School, Prinzhorn Dance School

Posted by: Johnny Loftus on August 16, 2007 at 7:31 am

prinzhorndanceschool.jpg
PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL, Prinzhorn Dance School (DFA, 2007)
No, your iTunes didn’t quit. That’s the way “Do You Know Your Butcher” goes, with gaps at odd times that make you freak out and reach for your mouse, only to be greeted by another plinking, nails-out guitar line and more non sequiturs from the singing male part of the Brighton-based trio. (He sings most of the time, though the she — they say her name is “Suzi” — also yelps frequently.) As he says in “Worker,” “It’s good to have a stop start…it stops it falling apart.” While some of these songs are held together by a steady bass line or simple kick drum rhythm — “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “You Are the Space Invader” — most of them decidedly, defiantly aren’t.

They hesitate, backtrack, stop for emphasis, start for the fuck of it, or repeat words and phrases as a sneer, just like a couple of bastards making fun of your pompous, spouty ass in a coffee shop. Prinzhorn’s savage minimalism make the Kills sound like Kool & the Gang, and it’s totally awesome.

“Liars Water Jug” suggests how this weird, non-plug in band ended up on DFA — it could be LCD Soundsystem as performed by earnest amateurs — while “Black Bunker” starts the record out with a dreary guitar bend and lyrics that’ll spit dirt between your teeth. Other highlights include “I Do Not Like Change,” (”You! You talk too much!”), “Up! Up! Up!”, which suggests the restless, OCD basement punk of K Records’ formative era, and “Hammworthy Sports and Leisure Center,” just to hear the girl part of Prinzhorn repeatedly yell out the title like she’s going to reunite Crass just to firebomb the place.

– Johnny Loftus

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