While I was still up there, Churlington got a lot of airplay on Palmy's Radio Control 99.4FM local show. At least a couple of tracks a show, which is probably made easier when the track lengths sit at a radio friendly one to two minutes a pop.
Short and... Well. No. Not sweet. Not in any traditional sense. More in a Dude! Where's my Car? definition or the word.
No. It's rough as guts. A sea of noise. Like old school Die! Die! Die! Claustrophobically mixed and muddier than the Manawatu river.
You remember that video of Blur's Song 2, where the band are thrown around the room. That's this album. Act Scared, Get Behind Him, Keep Him Busy, Screw You Bozo offers some of the most intense minutes experienced since the fictional Misplaced Abortion's third record, from that TV show Skins.
Intricate isn't usually associated with the punk genre, and it's not the word I'm looking for. This isn't your run-of-the-mill "punk" album, where the simplicity is made up for in the intensity.
But there are intricacies on this album, mixed within the screams of tortured instruments, between the blast beats, that keep the mind interested. And although you can't hear it, there's a strange poetry to the lyrics, relatable to those of our generation of pointless, aimless, cheated by those before us youths.
One of the band's idiosyncrasies, the convention of re-appropriating obscure quotes as ridiculously long song titles returns, this time taking track names from late eighties classic, Short Circuit 2. It's an interesting quirk, and a good way to get the band remembered, which is what the band deserved. Like most underground kiwi bands, they deserved to be a lot more well known than they are.
If you know and love Churlington's previous works, you already know about Act Scared, Get Behind Him, Keep Him Busy, Screw You Bozo.
But, if you don't know Churlington, or if you haven't heard Act Scared, Get Behind Him, Keep Him Busy, Screw You Bozo, do it now. It'll only take you a few minutes. If you aren't blown away, your speakers aren't loud enough.
You can find Act Scared, Get Behind Him, Keep Him Busy, Screw You Bozo on the Churlington Bandcamp.
We are Churlington.
https://horsepants.bandcamp.com/