Most rock'n'roll records can be traced back to some specific place and time, but very few provide evidence of their exact origin. "I guess he doesn't have a gun," a tiny voice chirps giddily on what sounds like a cassette player recording. "Do you think he has a gun? Yes! He shot himself! We're listening to Nirvana and, as you know, Kurt Cobain... POW!" The voice belongs to Alex Levine, bassist for New York punk omnivores the So So Glos, kicking off their heart-racingly enjoyable new album Blowout. The snippet was recorded when Levine was seven, at the start of an abrupt and confusing changing of the guard in rock. In the wake of Cobain's suicide, alternative music started looking much different than it had before, as punk got poppier and alt-rock proper got angrier. For twentysomethings making music today, this once maligned schism now feels whole, with likeminded bands like Wavves and the Titus Andronicus subtly paying their dues to the Hollands, Hoppuses, and Armstrongs (Tim and Billie Joe) of their youths. The So So Glos are also a proud result of this divide, where disaffection still lingers but never interferes with having fun.
The So So Glos have zero interest in being sedated. On "Xanax", with its festive sha-la-las, sleigh bells, and cowpunk flourishes, frontman Alex Levine warns that "they just wanna dumb you down like I did." (Rounding the band out are Alex and Ryan's step-brother Zach Staggers on drums and childhood friend Matt Elkin on guitar.) The So So Glos are clever without being cheeky, sincere without being preachy, self-aware but never too in on their own joke. Still, their most endearing trait is a simple one: They make murderously catchy, endorphin-boosting, shout-along guitar music with vigor and zeal, breaking in their Doc Martens with a mid-song skank on the title track and goofing with Strokes-y cool on "Speakeasy". Thanks to their DIY background, the 12 songs on Blowout foster an immediate sense of community, with love and enthusiasm pumping fiercely at the heart of these songs. If you've spent any time over the past few years at NYC venues like Shea Stadium or the Market Hotel (both of which the band helped co-found), there's a good chance you've not only caught a So So Glos set, but felt that same energy.
Blowout isn't trying to break any molds, but distinguishes itself with thoughtful genre cherry-picking and a more inclusive spin on their contemporaries' established efforts. You can find hat-tips to forebears like the Gun Club and the Replacements (and note the Joe Strummer vocal inflections on the bittersweet "Island Ridin'") as well as bands that most pre-pubescent punks would have idolized when the Glos were coming up ("Wrecking Ball" sounds like Rancid all juiced up on the Beastie Boys). But as far as the current landscape is concerned, the So So Glos have a broader focus. Poking fun at American privilege is pretty standard for a band in their sphere ("Son of an American"), but the Glos come off less fussy and indignant than their friends Titus Andronicus (they even do a spot-on TA imitation with "All of the Time"). Parquet Courts feel like spiritual cousins, though SSGs are considerably less stoned and way more caffeinated. Almost every song has some sort of Japandroids-styled oh-oh-oh! chant-along, often more pop-conscious but equally as satisfying.
Full of great hooks, anthemic energy and personality to spare, the Glos are able to etch out their own space thanks to these adventurous songs (the one-two gut-punch of the melancholy-laced "Lost Weekend" and "Xanax" are both easy highlights). "I’ll be a buzz bin fly just living to die," Alex Levine sings on the aptly titled "Everything Revival", "and I don't wanna be the guy to sat whatever, never mind." So the So Glos know where they came from, but have the confidence to continue to do things their own way. Turns out it's been a nearly lifelong way of thinking for the band: Hang around after the record's over for a hidden track called "Let's Rock 'Til We Die", written and performed by the same seven-year olds we met earlier trying to unpack "Come As You Are". The song is loud, it's to the point, and it's charming as all hell. Not a lot has changed.
