Hold the phone, stop the press, pick up the chips and kiss my face, we’ve got a new punk band on the record player and their debut, self-titled White Reaper EP is crashingly energetic and lobe combingly infectious. The produce of three kids from Louisville, Kentucky – formed by Tony Esposito (vocals/guitar) and twin brothers Nick (drums) and Sam Wilkerson (bass) – the band are about as rough-hewn, DIY and lo-fi as it gets, while still being infinitely listenable.
The EP is set to be released by Polyvinyl on the 24th June 2014 and while the band’s sound probably means that they won’t be picking up a huge amount of radio time on the mainstream side of the crooked tracks, they’re well worth taking the time to listen to. Available to buy on 12″ 180-Gram Clear Pink vinyl, CD, tape cassette (brilliantly) and digital download it’s got all bases covered and with more action than a back street disco on a late night in Soho, it’s got them pretty stacked too.
We can’t necessarily say that we’re big fans of the band’s name (although, who are we to talk about names), but when it comes to the tracks on the mini record there’s very little, if anything to fault. It eases into motion with opening track, Cool, which pretty much does what it says on the tin with a brief psych intro, some crunching guitar, feedback, motorik drums and hazy punk vocals. The solo guitar riffs are pretty wild and the track picks up pace as it builds.
It’s backed up by the roller-coaster drive of Half Bad, which you can take a listen to yourself in the stream below. Again there’s a little psych thrown into the mix of the post-modern punk track thanks to a sci-fi inspired synth additions, along with a little shimmer from a clobbering tambourine. Esposito’s vocals are unrelenting and fly into the Edvard Munch bracket of the sonosphere to make the track curl up into life.
Conspirator is another singeing punk track, that’s probably the heaviest on the album. The variation between the verse, chorus and bridge does a lot to take it above the simple, hard-rocking song it could have been otherwise. It’s got some nice change-ups and what sounds like it should be described as drum sticks of fury. We love the closing feedback extension too.
White Reaper are starting to make a fair few ripples on the radar front, having made a name for themselves playing small, dim and damp local shows in Louisville with their energetic garage-punk sound and thunderous live shows. You get a real sense of that impact in the EP, and hopefully this will just be the start of even bigger things to come from the band.
White Reaper EP review: 4.4/5
White Reaper EP track list:
1. Cool (2:41)
2. Funn (1:42)
3. Half Bad (2:43)
4. She Wants To (1:21)
5. Conspirator (3:40)
6. Ohh (Yeah) (4:32)
