Monster Zero Records, May 1, 2020
Dorkatron and 7 Years Bad Luck split the goods
Split is a nice twelve-inch between two Austrian bands. Dorkatron are a hyper pop punk band with lots of earworms, fun harmonizing, and goofy nerd lyrics. And they tend to remind me of Teenage Bottlerocket. 7 Years Bad Luck are quite a bit different. They've got lots of hooks for sure, but they sound more aggressive, a bit faster, and the singer has a scratchy-voiced desperation working for him. Makes for an interesting couple of sides.
Split has a bunch of good stuff going for it. Favorites on the Dorkatron side start with the opener, “Robotic Love”. This one has a silly concept and a great vocal hook in the verse and again in the chorus with backing vocals that are at just the right level with their “hi-yo, hi-yo's”. Even as I type this in silence, I can't get the “Robotic Lo-ove” chorus hook out of my brain. “Shopclass” is another great song that's loaded with speed, endearing harmonies on parts of the verse, and guitar hooks for days. And with the “whoa-oh-oh” vocals, “Shopclass” is the one that most reminds me of Teenage Bottlerocket. Taking “Shopclass” even further, “My Girl” is full of pace and it's simple repeated lyrics (“she's my girl, whoa-oh, she's my girl, not yours”) sung with killer hooks, cool harmonies, and infectious phrasing make for an engaging singalong. And it's done in thirty seconds, right in my attention span sweet zone.
The 7 Years Bad Luck side has some good stuff, too. “Milk Teeth” is pretty representative of the 7 Years sound on here. It's got a positively blistering rhythm and a musical melody that reminds me a lot of some of the more melancholy NOFX songs. “Out” fits this description as well, sounding wounded and desperate along the way. “You, The Ocean, And Me” is a bit of an anomaly on the 7 Years Bad Luck side of Split. It's slower and lets the pop hooks sink in, especially with the vocal melody singing desperately sweet lines like “I just need you around”. It's cool hearing them give some space for catchiness.
Prior to hearing this, I hadn't heard either of these bands and had little in the way of preconceptions (though the Dorkatron name did give a certain impression, I suppose). But I rather enjoyed Split. 7 Years Bad Luck plays a type of scruffy rough punk that I don't listen to much, but they throw in melodies that surprise me at times. And Dorkatron's simple pop hooks kind of took over my head and left me scrambling to find whatever else I could from them. Good stuff.
You might like this if:
- You like checking out 2 new and sort of different-sounding bands on one record
- You think pop hooks and melodies go with any kind of punk rock
You might not if:
- Splits make you inexplicably angry…leaving you thinking “I can't digest 2 new and sort of different-sounding bands at once! Get outta here!”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He's very secretive, he might be an alien.
