Robots say a lot about a band, they can either be used as a cute goof, or can symbolize everything wrong with the way culture is headed.
I’m pretty sure Go Genre Everything are messing with the ways that robots work into the ways we’re living our lives online these days, judging by their crazy website from the dawn of the internet. This duo is like the Spaceships (the LA band) halfway across the world - in that other great DIY capital, Melbourne, Australia. Jen and Zack have been playing in various projects since they picked up instruments and this single is a cathartic combination of the pop pipes from Mates of State and the chaos of the Cave Bears.
The A-Side of this conceptual EP kicks off with "Everyday Robots". As a duo you'd better give it your all, there's no one else who’s going to fill in those spaces. If you’re working with the guitar and drums, now is the time to bash it out. Vocally, Zack comes off like Johnny Lydon in that post punk talky question style, ending each verse on a high note. Meanwhile, Jen is screaming in middle of the measure, cackling, a sirens wail dropping bomb of descending vocal.
The following track, "Giant Robot" has an epic, feedbacking distortion over a simple throbbing kick. This sustained forever guitar can't wait for breaks, constantly humming over this thumping along kick, once the two of them start working together it's as epic as the giant robot stomping along. Organ runs around the scales and the drums take their own place, loose and free. Go Genre Everything put this together in the rehearsal space, all heart and limitations...and that completely comes across. A Blue Box, lower, doubled octave gets into a beefy melody and the percussion adopts a snappy hip-hop snare, off kilter rhythm with the two of them yelling alternatively about a giant robot and a modern list of the future things in our daily lives; directory assistance, SMS text, ATM withdrawal’s. I think Shit Vulture would appreciate these guys, being equally as concerned with ridiculousness of right now and take similar chances at peeling back those onion layers. It's not should you be coming up with lyrics like this, but you have to. Robots are here, technology is everywhere, changing relationships and interaction...it's not a revolution and you can’t fight against it, GGE is a demented form of acceptance.
B-Side "Domestic environment" leaves the piercing distortions behind as this is a pleasantly strummed jazzy tune, but their dual vocals really belt this out like All In The Family, the grating lack of harmony mirroring the actual relationships of the people in this family situation. Like real life, the backup harmony gets sweet for a second, but the rest is all Jemina Pearl and Tiny Tim…completely out of control banging and yelling like a bunch of real animals, you know, like every holiday.
“Dream of Eternal Youth” continues this simple beat and nice electric songwritery vibe. A garage scuzz guitar cranks in here, the upper end drops out and their legitimately nice harmony starts....well, just for a minute. They both have this quivering mental patient vocal style that is pretty freaking unique. But all of the niceness they've been slowly building up by the end it’s shattered by "…but we're still going to die."
The whole EP is through the twisted lens of domestic 50's living, the failure of making things easier with Asbestos and plastics, pulling the wool over your own eyes and buying robots...another mechanical failure having this thing do all the things you don’t want to. I think Go Genre Everything is appropriately attacking these failures… and in character. They are going to whine about it and make things unpleasant because that's the truth. I may have been thinking about the Butthole Surfers a lot lately but this has the hallmarks of a band so unconcerned with nearly everything going on around them that they hit on this uniquely unfashionable idea, which is always at the core of a true punk original.
Hand pasted photo collage on cardstock, dark purple vinyl and a website that is even more confusing than it would have been in 1993.
Pick this up from Vacant Valley, import only, so you'll have to demand it from your local supplier.
Listening to this was a bizarre experience, and I feel I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I was on acid.
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