The Austin, Texas five-piece proto-punk band The Profane Anything Band is on their third studio album and after the week I’ve had it’s nice to listen to a band that has their stuff together in a certain sense. A musical sense I should add. Even as I read these last few sentences back to myself I realize that I shouldn’t be enamored by this fact, but I still am.
A lot of times I catch myself hearing some top 40 artist of today and I think; this blows, how did this person get a record deal? And then I think better of it and that it was probably touched by millions of hands and spit polished before it hit the airwaves. That’s the way of the world. But The Profane Anything shine due to hard work and what I can only guess is a tight knit group of people who really like playing music and who refuse to put out anything that may sound like a one off. No matter if I like a band’s style or not, I respect anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort to make a record that flows well and sounds like it wasn’t recorded by Edward Scissorhands. On their self-titled album The Profane Anything, cue up the first track “Escape Club,” a happy and jolty uppity poppy and rocking tune that is as jovial as it is rocking. Here I felt that The Profane Anything has begun to lay the groundwork for the remainder of their record. There’s gonna be taut riffs and lyrics that deal with personal issues without getting overtly sappy about them. Game on. Next we get the short and sweet mid ‘90s indie rock of “Secrets” which is followed up by the more uppity pop punk of “Too Many Rules,” which follows the formula so far to a T. Right on target then comes the semi-sweet rock ballad “Alright” after which hot on the heels comes the head swaying rocker “Right Where You Are.” If we could fast forward a bit (don’t worry the album is sixteen tracks long) let’s stop at the shortest song on the record which is called “We All Die From Living” which is a tongue and cheek plain speak tune that has all the power of an anti-smoking commercial. This is then followed by the squiggly blues-infused rocker “Come on Down” which has flavors of Pavement and a bit of Lou Reed. They take it home with their classic form on the wily and slightly silly “Life and the Dream.” The Profane Anything has made an album of the same song over and over. That may at first sound harsh but then just remember that Nirvana and so many other bands of ill repute hath done the same thing in the past. But the thing to realize here is at least it’s consistent and at least the recording sounds well done. With that said I don’t think The Profane Anything were ever trying to make a record that anyone, myself included, were gonna crap their pants over when they heard it. They’re a tightly knit band making the kind of music they wanna make. To quote Mr. Malkmus “Come on now, give us a grade/A for effort and a B for delivery/C for devotion when the world starts encroaching on your plans.” Enough said.
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