Recently the album At Crystal Palace by Erase Errata was released. On that record a late seventies post punk sound could be heard. Bikini Style is the debut cd from the American band Popular Shapes, which has a somewhat comparable sound.
The arty now wave music of this group is as hectic and chaotic as the music Erase Errata and their peers The Au Pairs and The Slits play. On Bikini Style nine tracks are presented in a little more then twenty minutes. Thus the psychotic punkrock songs are quite fast like ‘Symmetrical Girl’ and ‘Elevator Friends’.
Overall the post-punk music of Popular Shapes is less clean and polished than the way Erase Errata plays it. The band is more punk, and to be honest also a little better. This is no record to relax by.
