May #10: Are You Ready For PWR BTTM?

10. PWR BTTM - Answer My Text

I have mentioned before my colleague who, despite being 20 years younger than me and a bit of a hipster, actually has a half decent taste in music. He's the one who encouraged me to investigate Kevin Devine a little further, a decision which is still paying off.

Anyway, he's been banging on for a while now "American queer punk duo" PWR BTTM who are due to release their second album a little later this year and which, I am reliably informed, "will be on many (hipster) critics' End of Year lists". To be honest, I've been reluctant to give them a go, for one reason and one reason only: their vowel-less name. Being an English teacher, I get a little irked by bands who muck about needlessly with the language, misspell words for the sake of it, or write their names in text speak. You know the sort of bands I'm talking about: LMFAO, Def Leppard, SBTRKT, !!!, B*Witched, YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO... The Beatles. This sort of thing is enough to put me off listening to your music, even if it's good.

But I've relented and given PWR BTTM a go. Their first album, Ugly Cherries, is on emusic and it's got some pretty good songs on it. I Wanna Boi is a particular favourite... despite another bloody deliberate spelling mistake. What is it with young people these days? Do they have no respect for the English language!?!

Even more exciting though is the stuff I've heard from their second album, which must surely strike a chord with The Young People these days due to its amazing chorus:

Answer my text, you dick!
Or call me up and tell me
That you're coming over
I'll clean up my room so quick!

Now promise me, when all the muso-critics slam this lot into their end of year Top Tens, you will tell your mates you heard them here first, won't you? I might restore my (never-had-it-in-the-first-place) hipster cred yet...