Album Review :: Teen Agers / Wolf-Face :: Split

Written by: Andrea Janov, CC2K Music Editor

Teen Agers / Wolf-Face :: Split :: Say-10 Records

I always dig Say-10 splits, there is always something super interesting about the pairing of the bands that creates a distinctive vibe to the album. This one is no different, though I do wonder if this all wasn’t done so that we can refer to this and the Teen Wolf Split, I mean, I totally would have.

So, what is interesting about this album is not that it took me a solid three listens to really allow it to seep in, it is that I kept going back and forth about which band has the stronger half. (Teen Agers, I Hate It , was one of my top ten albums of 2014) I still haven’t decided.

The Teen Agers tracks have a timeless quality about them, they don’t follow trends and their influences are classic and varied. Each of the five tracks that Teen Agers have on here are fairly drastically different from one another. KWM kicks off the split with a smooth melody and a hook that grabs you. River Road sounds like winter. Van Pizza Road Apple Coffee starts off as a classic pop punk in the vein of Screeching Weasel and the Queers then devolves into this cool trippy indie ending. Building is a thrashy indie song, if there is such a thing. It’s Hard to Know starts off with these growling vocals that totally caught me off guard before at least reassuring me with the voice that I have known. The varied vocals create a really cool pairing that plays off one another throughout the track, with a dash of layered sing along sections in the background.

Then we get to Wolf-Face, usually I am super skeptical about bands that have a gimmick. Okay, maybe I am always super skeptical about bands that have a gimmick. Wolf-Face’s gimmick – they have embraced the teen wolf look. So, when I heard, Goddamn This Beast, I was fucking blown away. It starts off slow, beautiful, soulful – almost naked before it kicks into a punk rock vibe, though it never abandons its original feeling, it honestly could be on a Broadway stage. That is where they won me over. They have a gimmick, yes, but add a theater to it and I am on board. The lyrics, start out, “halfway to losing humanity” and progress into “Goddamn these eyes / goddamn these teeth / goddamn  this flesh i’m in” and “ordinary is not so boring any more / it’s what I need / turn back the clock”. The music reflects intensity and comes to a beautiful crescendo. Okay, You have my attention.

Boof Ain’t Too Loose, is catchy and you can’t help but enjoy, and you can almost disregard the lyrics – if they weren’t so damned clever. “When I tasted that girl / She tasted like so many other guys/ with a trace of celebrity”. Wolf Like me is a cover, but I was not familiar with the original, but this cover is pretty solid, gruff with a pretty good hook. W-O-L-F Spells Shitkicker is poppier than the rest, but we are still wolves in here and you will be tapping your foot to it. I’m So Much Better is a gruff punk track that can stand on it’s own without the whole wolf thing.

All in all an interesting pairing again from Say-10 definitely worth checking out.