Dance punk Archives - KUT & KUTX Studios

They say the SXSW trifecta is free food and drinks, seeing one of your favorite bands (current or past) and discovering your next beloved band. I hit that trifecta this year, and it is my absolute pleasure to bring you my new obsession.

Atlanta’s CDSM (short for Celebrity Death Slot Machine) are a rag tag collective possessed by the ghost of Alan Vega and the living spirit of Can, fusing freakish synth-heavy post-punk with dance punk and a touch of goth in a refreshingly atypical manner. Many of their songs sound they fall down a wormhole into a different dimension partway through, while the guitars take a backseat to the crazed, workhorse synths. To top it off, a well-placed growling saxophone makes many a guest appearance.

All the members of CDSM are kinetic on their instruments, rotating duties between every song, but it seems the one constant rule is at least three people need to be on synths at any given time. It’s brilliantly executed controlled chaos. Being part of the CDSM chaos while packed in the small front room of Tweedy’s on a Sunday afternoon, you look around and think, “this is why I leave the house.”

Convertible Hearse is out May 23^rd.

The turn of the millennium was an outstanding time to be an adolescent developing their music tastes, for better or worse. And while it’s easy to look back at has-been fads like rap-rock and scoff, it’s just as easy to overlook one the coolest innovations of the late nineties/early aughts: dance-punk. Thankfully that playful angst of post-punk plastered over frenetic disco-inspired drums still makes waves well past the era when acts like LCD Soundsystem, !!!, and The Rapture reigned supreme.

So while we don’t envy Houston’s sweltering humidity during this historic heatwave, we’re pretty jealous that Swimwear Department kicks it in the Bayou City’s backyard. This receipt-fiending aquatic quartet first got their ankles wet half a decade back on their EP Turn Over! Go Under!, a seven-song dip that sticks to two strict lyrical lanes: swimming pools and shopping malls. Music-wise, Swimwear Department doggy paddles around DEVO, backstrokes with The B-52’s, and front crawls up to early Elvis Costello… and their collective pH level’s only gotten better; no need to scrub that infectious punk gunk off with any commercial pop chlorine.

Well, as we near the tail end of these dog days, there’s hardly a better time for Swimwear Department to cannonball into streaming services with their sophomore follow-up. This Friday the four-piece reemerges shocked and invigorated on The Poolest of the Mall, bringing a whole new meaning to the term “swimmer’s ear” with all types of sonic oddities. Fortunately for those who want to dive in headfirst, half the record’s ten originals have already submerged as part of a year-long release schedule, all ahead of an Austin show at Valhalla on Saturday, September 23rd with fellow weirdos Big Bill. So if you’re feeling a little juvenile this Tuesday, let The Poolest of the Mall’s album opener splash you with a clearance discount on gratifying crassness, courtesy of “We Need A Place”. At just under five minutes, “We Need A Place” offers slippery sanctuary to all who need a zany post-punk plunge ASAP.