Potty Mouth, “22”

[Get Better, January 10]


We have no idea how long we’ll have to wait for that new Sleater-Kinney album produced by St. Vincent, and that sucks. But there’s another all-female trio with a knack for big guitar hooks that has new music out now: Northampton punks Potty Mouth, who returned this week after a long hiatus—it’s been three years since their last single, “Smash Hit,” and six since their debut LP, Hell Bent—with news of their second album, SNAFU, due out on March 1. The announcement was accompanied by lead single “22,” a tongue-in-cheek track about dreading your 22nd birthday; “The magic is gone and I’m all that’s left / There’s nothing new about 22,” lead vocalist Abby Weems sings. Potty Mouth has always leaned toward the pop-punk side, but the cleaned-up production on “22” really highlights how tight the interplay between Weems and her band mates has become in the half-decade since their debut, for a vigorous, propulsive sound that can make even the over-30 set feel 22 again. [Katie Rife]

Krallice, Wolf

[Self-released, January 9]

For a band that’s covered as much ground as Krallice has over the past decade, it’s telling that Wolf is an EP of firsts. Not only is it the first release to feature no vocals from guitarist Mick Barr, but also it’s the first time Krallice’s other guitarist, and de facto producer, Colin Marston does sing on a record. It’s also the band’s shortest release ever, boasting the shortest song it’s ever written, at 15 seconds. But Wolf doesn’t suffer from this brevity. These five tracks are a perfect distillation of all Krallice has done over the course of its career, as “Wolf” and “The Mound” mix black metal, death metal, and prog without ever getting lost along the way. In typical fashion, Krallice released Wolf with little advance notice, and while the band’s last surprise drop yielded two full-lengths exploring different facets of its sound, Wolf is the first Krallice album that’s easy to put on repeat. [David Anthony]

 
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