Baby Control Best War

[Ache; 2007]

Styles: punk, grunge, indie rock
Others: Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Mission of Burma, The Ramones

It's very satisfying to throw on an album without knowing the band’s reputation, only to discover a sound so visceral and entertaining. Baby Control’s debut album, Best War, is a prime example. This is a refreshingly unforced brand of punk rock that most bands only wish they could pull off. Recorded in a low-budget fury at a two-day session in Vancouver, Best War is a noisy and frenetic amalgamation of fuzz, drum hits, screaming, and good ol' fashioned rocking out. At the heart of the quartet’s sound is Zoë Verkuylen, whose vocals walk a mostly satisfying line between gritty and sonorous. From there on out, it’s catchy guitar hooks mixed with surprisingly tight drum beats that hold the tracks together.

The standout song is the title track, an eerily succinct punk anthem about the recurrent troubles of war. Out of context, the lyrics are banal (“I know it’s war/ But I just want you at home/ I don’t want to see you die anymore”), but behind the right distortion pedals and drum accents on two and four, the message hits hard. Unlike most modern punk outfits, Baby Control finds a nice middle ground between whining and mindless screaming, making Best War's discussion of the relation between money and music all the more penetrating.

What Best War lacks in recording quality is compensated with both technical skill and, more importantly, intuitiveness -- proof of what actually counts in the art of music-making. Like a lot of good "lo-fi" music, I don’t think the contrast would be as apparent if Best War were recorded with a higher budget. The production is not meant as an artistic flavor or gimmick; it’s the means available at the time to make the music. Sure, this sensibility has informed punk rock since its inception, but the continuity says something. While there is much growing for the band to do, I'm hoping Baby Control's sophomore disc is similar in its visceral, yet informed approach.

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