“Psychic Teens Are Regular Adults”
Let that sink in to your thick skull bit (I know it took me a bit to wrap my head around) because it is one of the singular strangest statements to be made by a “rock” oriented band in many a year; think about it, and I mean really think about that as a statement and then ask yourself this one simple question: “How are these guys eschewing the normal rock pose taken on by musicians all over the world?” Rock music is normally about capturing the youth zeitgeist and exemplarizing the modern youth culture, maybe even to the point of exploiting the youth culture in some way; but Psychic Teens are ditching that model and going their own route, and this seemingly innocuous statement allows the band the space to be potentially timeless.
Psychic Teens plies a simple modus operandi: a powerful and driving rhythm section creating the base and tether for screeching, noisy guitars and a talking / singing style that evokes similar ground to say Jim Morrison or Iggy Pop (listen to The Idiot and Lust For Life and Fun House from The Stooges for examples if you do not believe me) without being uninterestingly derivative; and these three well-adjusted people use this formula to create a shocking first LP. TEEN contains some great moments amongst its seven tracks that, with sufficient volume, will topple you over with waves of cascading guitars (the beginning of “KIRA” is a great spot to hear this) or the best bass melodies this side of Peter Hook since well, Peter Hook (check out the absolutely sublime “RED” and tell me I am completely off my rocker, I mean this is my favorite song on TEEN); still, other songs like “YUNG” and “CbbK” (love the radiating guitar sounds and the incessant beat) also ratchet the heart rate and get your toe tapping like the great records can.
TEEN is a moody record that drips seedy melancholy and sarcastic stalkings that convincingly portrays Psychic Teens as a band fully capable of fashioning exquisite angular pop song songs while at the same time being equally adept at laying down some vicious squalls of guitar noise and chicanery; the seven songs here while not completely cohesive is an impressive collection of tidy songs that place the three piece out of any era of music. The opening shot that is TEEN is a great introduction to what is certainly going to be an impressive run, provided that the regular lives of these regular adults do not get in the way first.
