Night Birds
Midnight Movies
No Way Out Records
Night Birds are at it again. In a follow up to their self-titled debut EP, the band has released another four-track scorcher in leu of a full length. The bands self-released demo in 2009 was primarily an exercise in 1980’s punk rock; they advanced their sound with their following 7”, blending their punk rock with a jarring surf influenced aggression. We now find the band going back to their adolescent Adolescents influenced punk.
Despite the fact that The Adolescents were a distinctly West Coast punk rock band, Night Birds take much of their (as well as a number of other O.C. based punk bands) style and mesh it fluently with East Coast sensibilities. Of course this is only natural, with the band being from New Jersey, but Midnight Movies itself is a tribute to the act of, and the connotations behind attending gory midnight b-movies in the big city. More specifically, the films of Frank Henenlotter, famed B-Movie director. These songs not only perfectly encompass the gritty production of these films, but also compare singer Brian Gorsegner’s life to the plotline of one, at one point.
These songs are agents of dingy rooms, packed with the people you never wanted to see, all working as one. In a weird sense of thana-consumerism, the style of these songs couldn’t match the content better. It should also be noted that Mike Diana was commissioned to do the cover art, and for those who don’t recognize that name, or even the connotations behind it, Diana was the first artist to ever receive a criminal conviction for obscenity for his art in the 1990’s. Everything about this release screams counter culture, and it couldn’t have turned out better.
Even though much of the surf influence that defined Art Of The Underground 7”, and enhanced the self titled 7” is absent, the band relies on their clear talent to further define their output: paying tribute to some of the most enigmatic movements of modern media.
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