Sourkeys

The Sourkeys have generated a huge amount of excitement thanks in large part to their explosive live shows and unique stab at arty hardcore. The Waterloo band has also made a great effort to put Brantford on the indie-rock radar screen by championing the Ford Plant performance space and record label. This self-titled debut is the second release on Ford and it’s a hell of a first record. Songs like "Demon or Deity” and "Sick Since Sunday” may lack the gutsy production of Dischord releases but they certainly capture the spirit of that label’s ’90s output. When "Spider (Creeping, Crawling)” erupts, its sound suggests what a more coherent Hoover might sound like, while "Simpler Time” is a more playful version of Fugazi’s mid-period guitar experimentation. Elsewhere the band mixes healthy doses of irreverence and aggression, which puts them in the same company as NoMeansNo, the Pixies, and Shellac. The Sourkeys are perfect punks, coming off equally heartfelt and obnoxious on this energetic and highly satisfying record that heralds great things to come.