Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
Protomartyr play straight-up, classic post-punk. They don’t adorn their songs with electronics or atmospherics, they just stick to the essentials: spiky guitar riffs, a prominent rhythm section, and terse, declarative vocals.
It’s that commitment to simplicity that allows their true talents to shine through. These guys were just meant to play together. Every element of their music works in concert: the guitars will back off to give the vocals extra punch, the vocals become more rhythmic to better draw focus to the guitars, and the bass and drum are constantly changing shape to bolster everything else.
And the songwriting is excellent, it finds ways to surprise and progress on every track.
They’re not my favourite current practitioners of this particular style, but it would be hard to argue that they’re not one of the best.
Stream below.
Highlights: Cowards Starve • Uncle Mother’s • Why Does It Shake?
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