Review
Off Contact
Pearls Before Swine

Independent (2023) Christopher D

Off Contact – Pearls Before Swine cover artwork
Off Contact – Pearls Before Swine — Independent, 2023

Pearls Before Swine= offering something of value to someone who does not understand its value or appreciate it

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. These two statements could best describe the debut release of Off Contact.

To truly understand this release, it would take countless spins around the world of 33 ⅓ rotations. Easy comparisons are elements of earlier Wire combined with Fugazi’s repeater dissonance and waves of curated tension a la My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youths combined alternate tunings and textured orchestrations weaving the listener through passages, and doorways while guiding you down the hall past your mother's room where she is being massaged by the pool boy.

Call it Shoegaze, Post Punk, Art Rock and all would be relevant but what Off Contact does well is blend all these influences and labelled sounds into a big pre-roll for you to puff on and enter the world of dreamscapes, fluffy angels floating on clouds, with flashing lights sending electric pulses in Grand Mal fashion, keeping in check that Hell has better parties.

Hailing from South Dakota one would not normally associate with postpunk. Still, given the beautiful picturesque landscape, it would be easy to draw parallels to the musical output churned out by these unassuming faceless characters.

Ethereal music for the musically uneducated ready to explore music with meaning and depth.

The world should look forward to future output as they Paint like Pollock into grooved vinyl magic meanderings.

Off Contact – Pearls Before Swine cover artwork
Off Contact – Pearls Before Swine — Independent, 2023

Recently-posted album reviews

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

In Light Of Recent Events
Suppression Records (2026)

Australian Neo-proto-punk garagerockers ECSR released 11 new songs in May without much, if any, fanfare and not as some marketing or PR stunt but because they seem to actually give zero fucks. If anything they are making a bit of effort to curb their success which includes multiple award nominations on their home turf including the Australian Music Prize for … Read more

Swell Maps

C21
Tiny Global Productions (2026)

This isn't a hologram dancing, marionette corpse, tap-dancing nostalgia trip. It’s a jagged pill, a necessary taser jolt. Jowe Head—the absolute last man standing, the sole surviving architect of the original Solihull syndicate—just dropped a record handling legacy like a hot, glowing BTU ember. An organ grinder’s monkey's comeback? Completely antithetical to reality, this is a well-orchestrated calculation of intelligent … Read more

Silver Proof

Even If It Hurts
Independent (2026)

Some pop punk records feel made for playlists and algorithms. They’re polished into oblivion, emotionally vague, and afraid to get messy. Silver Proof clearly didn’t get that memo. The Buffalo trio’s debut full length, Even If It Hurts, leans heavily into the emotional core of early 2010s emo pop and melody while still sounding energized rather than nostalgic. Across the … Read more