Feelings of glorious 80s discovery
Los Angeles and Montreal-based trio, American Lips, have just announced the release of their latest 3-song maxi-single Waste of Crime on Ancient Fashion Records.
American Lips features Death From Above 1979 drummer Sebastien Grainger and prolific producer Adrian Popovich, also known for his time in the legendary Canadian rock act Tricky Woo. In explaining their newest offering the bands’ latest one-sheet asks you to ponder,
“Ever wondered what it would sound like if The Art Of Noise produced a Plastic Bertrand record? I spent a good chunk of 1988 listening to the Colors OST and the“Kiss”cassingle by The Art Of Noise and Tom Jones. This older kid Rob on my street who was into punk rock said, “the Colors soundtrack is pretty cool but that Art Of Noise song is garbage!”
As a nine-year-old, I’d yet to be called out on my questionable musical tastes. Rob made me a mixtape with songs by The Ramones, Misfits, Motorhead, The Buzzcocks and a bunch of other essentials. I’d never heard any punk music before and the impact it had on me was huge. Fwd to 2022, when Sebastien unilaterally decided to add Fairlight sample horn arrangements to two new American Lips songs, the simultaneous feelings of glorious discovery and deep shame I felt in 1988 came flooding back”.
Inspired by Wax Trax! Records, Shep Pettibone, Art Of Noise, and a hot cut from The Ghostbusters OST, American Lips shed the punky garage-wave of their 2017 debut LP “KissThe Void,” and take a hard-drive dumpster-dive, emerging with a kind of “sample-bank pop” -at once danceable, but stylistically hard to pin down (don’t call it dance punk!). Double A-sides “Waste Of Crime” and “Labor Of Hate” are backed by an extended dub remix“Labor Of Dub.” Fans of mid-80s Cabaret Voltaire, Ghostbusters OST, Decadent Dub Team, Rocket From The Crypt and Plastic Bertrand will rejoice in the exquisite peppering of influences in these new compositions.
Named after an Alice Donut song, American Lips formed in 2016 after drummer Sebastien Grainger (of Death From Above 1979) heard home demos that singer/guitarist Adrian Popovich (FRVITS, Tricky Woo) had been working on with bassist/vocalist Jessica Bruzzese. The band quickly went into the studio to record their debut LP “Kiss The Void,” released in 2017 on Sebastien and Adrian’s newly minted Ancient Fashion Records label. All of their material has been recorded by Popovich at his Montreal studio, where he has produced records by notable bands like Duchess Says, Solids, The Dears and Sam Roberts Band. The band has since been stockpiling recordings, with a series of new and archival releases planned for 2023.
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