Ghosts of Mars....

So, have you heard the new GVSB ep, yet? You should, it's good. Better than the new Soulfly and Sleigh Bells put together (since I won't be talking about either, elsewhere, I'll just say that Max, you're a good man, better than what you've done. I know that the fans just want Chaos AD over and over again, but I liked Soulfly for being something very different-and I bet you did too. Your heart isn't in this. Sleigh Bells, on the other hand have collapsed into exactly what I thought. Complete self-parody. Like an advertiser's idea of Punk Rock, doing covers of "Hey Mickey" over and over.) and better than You Can't Fight What You Can't See. Sure, it's just an EP, and, it could be argued, much the same as the Super Fire EP- but it's exactly what I like about Girls against Boys- grooves so cutting they cross over from dancing to danger, matched with lyrics that cross over from cheesy to sinister. I know most self-loving indie nerds hated Freak-on-ica but I'm not that kind of nerd- I saw it as a logical progression. What GVSB  do is take a certain type of male psyche, and expose it- debride it- until you can see the disgusting muscle and infection under the scab.
That type of male would sign a major label deal while trying to keep credibility, while getting more and more psychotic. That LP reflected that. That GVSB do this musically, rather than just lyrically makes it ring all more true. That I, like many others, have a bit of that psyche within me makes it sting a bit. Most of us have never done the evil in a Slayer song, or even been in a relationship as dysfunctional as an Afghan Whigs song, but we have pursued our base desires with an unhealthy disregard for the morality of it, and sometimes we revel in it. That point, when we want to possess that car, that gadget, or that girl, and we don't really care if we have to steal or take it by force ( and yes, emotional force counts) Girls Against Boys is all about that avarice that we rationalize and disguise. They go inside it and expose it. So, on this one, it's been 11 years, and that's explored- what happens to the hound when it gets a bit too old to hunt? What happens when you are still following the most trivial of pursuits well after the time to get serious?
Keep in mind this is done musically, as well- references to "Ghost Rider" by Suicide  on "Fade Out", and the slow electronic grind of "60 is greater than 15", not mention the burning pulsebeat of "Kick" ( like a gangsta war drum from 1995) don't really speak to an audience under the age of 40. But what they say? Well, think about the lyrics to the aforementioned Kick- "You say things have changed/ they only seem the same/to me. The 1990's? The Double Zeros? The Cleopatras?  The Neros.  There ain't no crazy ride. There ain't no war inside. And I still feel the same. I still feel the same." - I bet that you don't know all the references there if you weren't involved with Punk Rock in the early 1980s- admissions of defeat coupled with defiance abound- they seem to be saying that nearly sociopathic desire for conquest is wrong only because it's for the wrong things, and because of that, we're going to keep on trying, even though we're doomed to failure.