Burdocks

If you’re like me, you’ve had a scattered and tormented history with pop music. After years feeding on the trash thrust upon the young adult demographic during the mid-to-late ‘90s, I wanted to get as far away from pop music as possible. I sought refuge in complicated, angular post-punk bands and moody Godspeed-esque meanderers and deemed all basic three-chord progressions and catchy vocal hooks unlistenable. Little did I know that during that time, people were cross-breeding the two right under my nose. And now, just a couple years after I shrugged off pop music for good, I’m astounded to find records by undeniably pop acts like the Shins, the Woolly Leaves and Spoon getting me excited. But more than any of them, I’ve fallen in love with the Burdocks. While melodically-sound hooks and catch-phrase guitars still dominate this newest EP (not to mention 2002’s I Have A Million Friends), this Halifax-based quartet expose the joys of the major scale in a way even hard-ass math rock fans can appreciate. And plus, not only do they sound extremely smart and collectively solid, they’re also a sexy bunch of Haligonians. That’s gotta count for something, right?