reviewed by Adria Young
In order for music to belong to genres, there need to be shared elements, tropes, and themes. Punk music, for instance, is recognizable because of its conventions: minimalist, gritty, fast, vulgar, garage, basement, parking lot. Fuck the government, ripped jeans, truth. Folk punk? MacGowan’s teeth, Bragg’s ballads, harmonicas. We all have our generic expectations, however variable. So we know what we want to hear when we approach a genre, but we want it to have character; like an odd sock, we want it to stand out.
From Dartmouth, NS, The Odd Socks put 2011′s Odd Thoughts on Bandcamp last month, making it available to you! now for free, online. Recorded on a 16-track in a north- Dartmouth warehouse, the spoken intro and 11 songs are punky folk punk, for sure. The markers are there, enveloped in genre. But the tracks are surprising and quirky and homegrown. So even though The Odd Socks can be categorized, if we want, the regional lyricism creates some individualism. These are funny and interesting stories.
The spoken “Intro,” and a number of tracks on the album, introduce you to “Dartmouth city.” Like good folk punk, there are important local nuances to know. Dartmouth is to Halifax what Gatineau is to Ottawa, what Oakland is to San Fran. And there are all kinds of traditional subtleties about this relationship; usually jokes based in some old-school class rivalries. The Odd Socks make fun of these jokes. Dartmouth is (for no real reason) considered less refined than Halifax, despite having its own oil refinery (. . . bad joke).
But these jokes are funny because the implications are funny: “Cause we’re stealing from the LC/ We thought we’d drink classy, / Our voices are raspy / And our stomachs are fatty, / ‘Cause it’s cheaper to eat deep-fried food, / Twice the calories.” Even if they are setting it up as a joke based on Dartmouth stereotypes, they still make their judgments.
In “Dartmouth,” an anthem: “Well these Halifax girls / all they want to do is party / I can see! / too much of your body!” They make fun of Halifax but then they undercut it: “I will cross that bridge, / with no shame,” as though there is more shame in “going back to Dartmouth” than being a half-naked skank at The Dome (raunchy nightclub). There isn’t, but it’s funny to think so. And The Odd Socks are subversive and self-deprecating: “We’ll just keep playing Jacob’s, annoying those on the VLTs.” My personal fave“Montreal” centralizes what is on everyone’s mind around here: “Getting tired of this same old shit, / Might just go to Montreal.” I probably say that twice a day. Everyone in Nova Scotia with half a brain and some talent probably says that twice a day. It’s a Maritime theme, part of our history; this place kind of sucks, so we leave it. But regionalism is only part the album.
The Odd Socks have wider concerns, too. The vocals and sounds are rough; imagine John K. Samson chain-smoking and fronting for The Urinals (which, when you think about it, actually sounds awesome). In “Titties,” the track moves from a really nascent understanding of the world to a jaded one: “Won’t you come play with me?” to “Won’t you come spell with me?” to “I get what I get and I’ll butt fuck the rest.” Really, this whole album moves in that direction, or at least oscillates between simplistic and complex world views and outcomes. Can we trust our selves and our friends, or will they just ‘shoot us down’? Will things and people eventually ‘become boring’ (“Where Ya Been”)? Why do we ignore David Suzuki (“The World’s Not Over Yet”)? Will the prominence of hypocritical douche-bags (“In A Tree”) confirm this shit? I suppose the point isn’t whether they will or not, but that music is one way to address and express cynicism, and the punk way to do it is dirty and real; the folk punk way is representative. This album is conventional + unique.
Odd Thoughts both is and is not a typical ‘punk’ record. This is its strength. Check it out.
Top Tracks: “Titties,” “Montreal,” “Shot Me Down”
Rating: Proud Hoot (Really Good)
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