Push-Pull - "3" EP

Push-Pull - Brain Fever (Joyful Noise 2007)

Push-Pull - 3 EP / Joyful Noise

One of the best parts about 3 is its brevity. In fact, in the most neglected traditions of blogging, we're going to keep this review short in the spirit of Bloomington, Indiana's Push-Pull. These guys - all of whom are affectionately named Mike - tear through their six-pack faster than an awkward neighbor at a wedding reception. Even with a bonus track buried long after "Union Songs" wraps up, this album clocks in at a mighty, er, 18 minutes.

Brevity isn't the big story, because anyone can make an album brief (except for The Mars Volta). The story is that, between the three of them, Push-Pull have exhumed the ghosts of everyone they list in their biography as they attempt to find their own sound. Is there an element of everything Ian MacKaye has done, combined with the furious manual dexterity of Shellac of North America (whose Bob Weston mastered this album)? The Wipers? Big Star? Maybe a simpler ...Trail of Dead pre-Madonna action? Check please. We got a winner here.

Like a strike of garage-punk lightning, Push-Pull make short work of their all-original material. If there was to be a hypothetical single from this album, or at least a song for people to listen to if they could only listen to one, "Brain Fever" is it. Howling vocals on the edge of bursting vocal chords and enough feedback to make it all worthwhile, "Brain Fever" is a mission statement with a purpose at less than two minutes. Comparatively speaking, that's a pretty long track for this young band. Though "Union Songs" cheats at almost a dozen minutes given the barbershop free-time bop of the bonus track, "Mike and Bob" is genuinely just over two minutes.

The crashing cymbals and fluid bass grooves of these songs, bashed out relentlessly for the duration of the album, is juxtaposed with crunchy guitars with ample distortion and feedback. The band trades vocals between Mike Notaro and Mike Brivadsky, while all three (Mike Hoggatt is the drummer) share songwriting duties.

They've got a lot of potential brewing here, evidenced plainly on "Brain Fever" and the Lucero-like ending of "Union Songs." Maybe they intend to write these songs as short as they are, but for all of their power and swagger, Push-Pull has hopefully got more ideas floating around to work with and showcase soon. This album, recorded in Nashville and only just recently released, is sort of the polar opposite of Triclops! EP Café Brutalia that came out late last year. While that tended toward the extended when it wasn't sticking to the punk plot, Push-Pull tend to cut the excess out. The only real exception is the bonus hidden track at the end of the album which sounds like the whitest guys alive trying to come up with their own TV on the Radio track. It certainly is something different from the rest of these songs, even though all it amounts to is an alternate version of the first track of an album they never released. Still pretty good.

I wouldn't recommend they follow the a capella route too much further, but it does provide a nice surprise at the end of a debut EP that displays just enough promise for the common gutter-punk to be interested as much as the Shellac devotee. Somewhere in here is an entire song of "Twin Peaks" quotations, and though I'd name it for you, knowledge at this web address of "Twin Peaks" is sorely lacking. The point is that, even though Brivadsky has said they make songs that are "fun for [the band] to play and [they] think is interesting," they've also got the intelligence to try and slip in a little direct Rolling Stones references as well. If you like the sound of "Brain Fever" and the idea of a rock band having a good time with their songwriting process, check Push-Pull out and keep tabs on them. With luck, there will be plenty more to come.

That brevity thing mentioned earlier: 3 is ready to entertain. Do you have your PBR pulled out and ready to swig?