Family Average: 2/7

Lets get real experimental up in here! The kind of experimental where you have to wear lab coats, and goggles. Think your too cool to wear goggles? Pfft why don’t you have a chat with carol about that. Anyway Teen Girl Scientist Monthly (TGSM) is a swell band from NYC churning out the most energetic electronic infused punk rock music this side of the Mississippi. Their latest record “Anxiety League” is another testament to this groups unrelenting gusto. Read on below to see what the family had to say about it.

There is just too much going on in these eleven songs for this cowboy. Teen Girl Scientist Monthly (TGSM) honks and Tonks on to the scene with their latest album “Anxiety League”. This band is an unrelenting force of pop-punkery. This is made more evident when you skip on over to their band camp page and see that they have had 14 releases between 2019 and 2010 alone. Perhaps some day I will delve into their history. Not today though today I have been run ragged by their latest release. 

One of my main sources of discomfort comes from how quickly they shift from melodic to dissident.TGSM can put down a darn fine hook. The kind that get jammed in your head while you are trying to go for a run in the park,  and you forgot your headphones. Then you start running and you end up doing a weird thing where you breathe to the sound of what is stuck in your head. Catchy! Really catchy, but muddied up by too many miscellaneous noises. 

The band shoots out all kinds of 90’s alt nostalgia. “Grace Operator” has a real Pavement vibe going on. That got my head bobbing for a little bit. Vocals are a real stand out on the album. The whole band just seems like they are having a lot of fun.  I am sure a lot of people could have a hoot doing the slam dance to this, but it is going to be a pass for me. 

2/7

I think this must have been exhausting to record. Teen Girl Scientist Monthly is an enigma wrapped in a riddle or whatever that saying is. The group successfully did my head in with this album. It’s just a whole lot of cyclical stomping and cathartic yell-screaming with various vocals that throws caution to the wind. The emotion is heavy but it is by no means a downer; it’s a constant, unrelenting surge of dance-y electric pop, to the point where it felt a bit nauseating and I had to sit down. But I already was, so I instead stared at a fixed point on the wall to keep my head from spinning. 

Perhaps it’s eclectic, perhaps it’s eccentric, it’s definitely erratic, but overall it was exhausting. I think it was because the circulating synth and electronic instrumentation, combined with the aggressive rise and fall of the vocals. At times, it conjured images of someone sat on a floor playing an electric toy piano, jabbing the keys with one finger at a time. 

 That being said, I did like the heavy ‘90s alt influence and definitely resonated with the punk coursing through. Overall, they’ve got a distinct sound and they own that tiny toy keyboard. Overall, it’s an interesting listening and I highly recommend it if you want to go down some weird post-punk dance-y rabbit hole.

3/7