{"id":5742,"date":"2017-04-28T13:16:41","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T17:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=5742"},"modified":"2017-05-10T14:00:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T18:00:39","slug":"wall-untitled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wall-untitled\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall <br>Untitled"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/wall-untitled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5743\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/wall-untitled.jpg\" alt=\"Wall Untitled\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/wall-untitled.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/wall-untitled-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>Wall is not the first band to break up before its first album ever saw the light of day. The Modern Lovers are perhaps the most notable band whose debut was preceded by the band\u2019s untimely demise. But even such a precedent (and Jonathan Richman\u2019s well-chronicled career after rebranding the name) only partially mitigates the sinking feeling that something of great value had been lost. It happened so fast even the album is just called <i>Untitled<\/i> (Wharf Cat Records).<\/p>\n<p>New York has changed a lot since the halcyon days of No Wave, but Wall isn\u2019t having it. The band wears its influences like a badge of honor, rekindling memories of the city before CBGB was an overpriced clothes boutique, when Alphabet City was a genuinely scary place, and when the heartbeat of the city pumped blood through innovative artists rather than price them out.<\/p>\n<p>The best of <i>Untitled<\/i> is reminiscent of those great moments when Sonic Youth attempted to be a pop band (<i>Goo<\/i> and <i>Daydream Nation<\/i> most notably). Comparisons of singer Sam York to Kim Gordon are obvious since York affects that same monotone, flat-lining style that feigns indifference. This is evident on \u201cShimmer of Fact,\u201d whose bassline is more slithery than shimmery, and also on rambling, shambling cuts such as \u201cSave Me\u201d and \u201cWeekend,\u201d which stumble over themselves but never hit the ground.<\/p>\n<p>At other times, Wall goes even further back in the Gotham time machine for inspiration and perspiration. &#8220;Everything In Between\u201d is primordial art punk, with reverb-drenched guitars, droning percussion, and word association lyrics. As the song starts to fade away, the tasteful fuzz of sax suddenly comingles with the guitars before seamlessly replacing them entirely. The next cut, a faithful cover of Half Japanese\u2019s \u201cCharmed Life,\u201d keeps the sax appeal and a Dollsy groove that would have perfectly fit on <i>Too Much Too Soon<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Even the lyrical nods to current times have a retrofitted feel to them. Blondie got its name because that was what the term Debbie Harry was catcalled with as she walked the Manhattan streets. Four decades and increased sensitivity to the subject hasn\u2019t changed anything though. \u201cTurn Around\u201d tells a similar tale, though York is sassy enough to give it back. \u201cHigh Ratings,\u201d which kicks off the album, is a nod to social media where she repeatedly sings, \u201cValidate me.\u201d If it were possible to hear eyes rolling, you would. \u201cWounded at War\u201d is a melodramatic protest song about how we treat PTSD-addled returning veterans. \u201cHere in America we want heroes,\u201d York sings. \u201cMake war glitzy, make it grand. Something simple we understand.\u201d If The Monks could incorporate anti-Vietnam sentiments in 1960s Germany, no reason Wall can\u2019t decry the military industrial complex now.<\/p>\n<p>Album closer \u201cRiver Mansion\u201d features an underwater looping bassline courtesy of Elizabeth Skadden and guitars that stop twitching and instead gallantly go with the flow like Television. It\u2019s twice as long as anything else on the record and melancholic, like the eulogy that it kind of is. Wall is dead. Long live Wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wall is not the first band to break up before its first album ever saw the light of day. The Modern Lovers are perhaps the most notable band whose debut was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,1958,1959],"class_list":["post-5742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-wall","tag-wharf-cat-records"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wall Untitled - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wall-untitled\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wall Untitled - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wall is not the first band to break up before its first album ever saw the light of day. 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