These days, Philadelphia's Atom and his Package is the science teacher he'd always threatened to become, presumably making it easier for all the misfits hiding out at the athletically inclined private school where he now teaches. Nerds already out of high school will have to settle for Atom's heirs, and somehow, there are many. Dan Deacon, Matt & Kim, and Team Robespierre have all made recent runs at the bleating sequencer, kiddie wail title-- which I guess people now actually want? Certainly it still has the same effect on grownups: Watch the way Studio B's bouncers pulverize the crowd every time Matt & Kim storm through.
Come to think of it, the video for "88th Precinct" from Everything's Perfect, Team Robespierre's recent debut, begins inside the Nassau G Train stop, just a few blocks away from Studio B. Somebody in a lucha libre costume takes off down the platform, then snorts at the camera, and pretty soon all the kids are at a raging TR gig, and everybody knows all the lyrics. This, I guess, for all the people who didn't just listen to record and get the same idea-- practice at home, and then perform it live every night Team Robespierre happen to be in your town.
It's probably my bad ears that can't quite tell the Men's Recovery Project synth on "Gasoline" from the Thrones synth on "88th Precinct" from the Matt & Kim synth on "Ha Ha Ha", but I get the concept. Like Atom, Team Robespierre are shooting for rite-of-passage status. The band lets kids excited about music be kids excited about music. As far as I can tell, the quartet has a bent for MRP-style surrealistic lyrics, although most of 'em seem to be not very political; the primary standard for what comes out of the dueling vocalists' mouths almost certainly comes down to what sounds best shouted out loud. Same thing with the wavy dueling synths, programmed to incite the crowd, down to the drum machine double bass.
So although Everything's Perfect may not be much for listening to in the ol' bedroom, the songs are actually sorta great-- forgettable blasts of energy'n'enervation. Now that even the most modest of bands can reasonably expect an audience in the millions for even their most throwaway practice sessions, it's great to hear TR make something strictly for the 150 kids they see every Friday night.
