Mooses

There are many subtle shades of post-punk; you can't underestimate the variety of vibes one can achieve under that big umbrella. Throw out connotations that post-punk is some kind of reductive genre/label, or some simple way of summing up a band's sound; I've always seen it as a philosophy--a matter of variations in approach...

And Mooses manifest that nuance quite nicely. This new Detroit quintet have a debut EP coming out in August - but TODAY is the day they greet the world with their first single, "Moses."

Mooses is: Mooses Alex Brown, Andy Scott, Dan Tiura, Rob Jozefiak, Vince Monte

What Mooses have down to a tee is the coordinated chaos aspect of agit-rock, like the songs themselves could be pulling off fierce freerunning parkour with such herking time-signatures and twisty tempos. Throaty vocal incantations lunge with passion over angular guitar phrases, varying at upticked moments of urgency into a swifter staccato delivery. Like any good car chase in an action movie, the music of Mooses is inherently exciting because you're not sure which alley they might turn down next - and it could be very sudden.

A song called "Jeeps" starts out like a summery, and almost groovy kind of post-rock/jazz-hybrid riff, only to roil up into a mosh-able tempest with gnarly, sinister sounding guitar runs. It starts out like Sea & Cake but winds up closer to the Mekons (with some Fugazi splashed in the middle somewhere). And I like that!

In fact, several songs, like "And It Makes," start out in one genre, something almost near late 90's post-ska, and winds up stutter-stepping through several different modes and moods, like murky metal, or straight-up no-wave esoterica. That's what post-punk means to me: exploration... But what Mooses gets, early on, is that there's a certain grace required of you when you're throwing on three or four different hats at once inside the same song... And you can hear that on the song "Moses..."

This Saturday,

Mooses performs at Trixie's Bar in Hamtramck

Featuring Reverend, Odmiana, and Red Robe

9pm

More info