Caught the Blast

Party of One are a tight, angular and intriguing three-piece from the coldest state in the USA, Minnesota, and are based around the enigmatic presence of guitarist / songwriter Eric Fifteen. Recorded on an 8-track, their album is trebly, dessicated, underfed and stretched taut as can be across a skeletal musical framework. Sometimes it teeters on the verge of collapse, only to find wiry strength in its stubbornness to survive and kick against the pricks, firing bilious broadsides at a whole raft of targets right across the history and geography of the globe—genocide, gang violence, religion, exposure of military personnel to war-related illnesses, sexual violence? yet any liberal sensibilities are entirely washed away by Eric’s apparent deep-seated misanthropy. And it’s all set to a peppy, kick-up-your-heels beat that references everything from Patti Smith, Nirvana, T Rex, Ramones and Captain Beefheart, to slightly less apparent influences of James Brown, Dirty Three and Can.