Last year, Bay area No Wave punk trio Permanent Makeup spent some quality time on the road amid putting together a sophomore album, and after their second tour, bassist/vocalist James Bess, guitarist/vocalist Christopher Nadeau and wife-drummer Susan Dickson-Nadeau (the latter also the twisted-inspired mind behind all the band’s album art and ‘zine creations) recorded their sophomore full-length Taker, which drops this Fri., Aug. 21, via Tampa’s own New Granada Records, and is celebrated at an album release party the following Saturday with a few other quality punk-rooted acts — Tallahassee faves Ex-Breathers and Orlando’s femme-driven Wet Nurse.
Kicking off with an ominous bass quake and some dissonant guitar notes, “Hey Taker” — the LP’s ostensible title track — roils and spits while follow-up cut and first single “Weak in the Knees” maintains the flippantly sinister tone but amps up the pace as it lurches and twists beneath Bess’ nasally bray, which sounds as if it could run off the rails at any moment as he hurls lines to the effect of “How you gonna stand up for your sad delusions when you can’t even stand up on those shaky knees?”
The album proves chock-full of highlights; “Manhater” has a truly epic guitar-bass assault that finds both axes powering through ascending and descending notes in aggro-laddering unison as the vocals hit a high-frequency scream, “Distrusted” mines noisy sonicscapes and oozing reverb, “Blot Out the Sun” finds Bess barking cavalier queries over dirty driving propulsion and squealing guitar jizz, “Information” is almost bouncy as it lashes out at societal ignorance, and “Structure” closes the album with a grungy, suitably unruly rock-out.
Critics’ Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.
Permanent Makeup's Album Release Party with Ex-Breathers and Wet Nurse is held this Sat., Aug. 22, 9 p.m., at New World Brewery in Ybor City; tickets are $8 (ages 18 & up).
