Antarctigo Vespucci
Soulmate Stuff
Quote Unquote(2014)
Sounds like: Weezer, The Rentals and The Cars partying poolside
Score: 10/10
In the best combination of individually fantastic things since peanut butter met chocolate in the late 1970s, Antarctigo Vespucci brings together two big names in the niche market of fun and earnest punk rock – Fake Problems crooner/Smith Family Shirt mastermind Chris Farren and Bomb the Music Industry shouter/Quote Unquote Records founder Jeff Rosenstock – finally solving the age-old dilemma of having to choose between either’s band for your summer kickback. Now the last time I was this pumped for a team up I was in middle school and Marvel and DC tossed their differences to the wayside to create this guy:
So I knew I’d have to try and curtail my excitement, lest I end up with expectations too high. Soulmate Stuff, the duo’s debut, doesn’t have the berserker rage or proper English butlers that the above anti-hero has at his disposal, but what it does have is 7 tracks packed with an abundance of quirky, hook-laden power-pop that brought a huge grin to my face on the first listen. The quiet verses, loud chorus, lovelorn lyrics and fuzzy solo backed with falsetto “wooos” of first single “I’m Giving Up On U2” are in the style one only writes after a night binging on Weezer’s sophomore masterpiece and it hasn’t been done this well since. (With exceptions made for Ozma, Tony Molina and I guess Sugar Ray too, that one time, but ignore all that for the purpose of this review).
It’s not all Weezer, though, as Antarctigo Vespucci also found the missing “whoa oh ohs” from the last AFI record. Case in point is the album’s standout track “Guest List Spots,” which if you’re not cathartically shouting those whoas, amplified by the track’s guest star Laura Stevenson of Laura Stevenson and The Cans fame, by second listen while also dancing in your car or desk than you should stop reading this review and rush out to the doctor ASAP because someone clearly stole your sense of fun (a felony, in most states). “Guest List Spots” also features the lone vocal appearance by Rosenstock. On first listen, I was disappointed that the vocals weren’t shared a little more equally, but Rosenstock is used so brilliantly here, answering Farren’s “I could stand right up and slur a speech about how” with “I’m lucky to have such wonderful friends, and I would be nothing without all of them” that I think it makes his vocal absence completely worth it. I actually felt a squee rising in my throat on first listen of that moment, and 100 listens more has not lessened that giddy feeling.
The hooks turned up to 11 are great for sucking the listener right in but without strong lyrics, an album this short can wear out its welcome fast. Luckily, lyrical wordplay is key to another of the album’s standouts, “Sometimes.” The chorus of “Sometimes I wanna go, back where I lost my faith and see if it’s still there” is so simple and yet so clever that I have to imagine someone has used it at some point in the last million years of music, but my Google-Fu fails me so kudos to whichever penned that one. And as an added bonus, the song’s beat, brought to you by The Gaslight Anthem’s Benny Horowitz, anchors it in such a way that if you have downstairs neighbors they better be cool with the sound of your foot tapping all night long. Closer “Bang!” is another lyrical highlight, going the heart on the sleeve, confessional route ala Pinkerton with “Cuz all I wanna do, is ride my bike and think about sex, yeah. All I wanna do is fade out with you.”
I could spend all day gushing on the little tinges of greatness, because this is just a great little earworm of a record. But at this point it’s going to take you longer to read my review than listen to the 10-minute album. So instead of telling you how “Don’t Die in YR Hometown” is the catchiest lament on feeling trapped in your hometown this side of every Less Than Jake album ever, or trying to describe the wistful melodies of the two “100 Years” tracks, I’m just going to tell you where to go download it so you can put your headphones on and enjoy it in the warm weather.
Soulmate Stuff is available now as a pay-what-you-can download from Quote Unquote Records. Dark Claw Adventures is available in your local comic retailer’s quarter bin. Jeff Rosenstock is playing our 3-Year Anniversary show on May 22, and if you want more of the duo, give their LOST podcast “Back to the Island” a listen here, hopefully getting them enough listeners to get the dog who played Vincent and the creepy Dharma guy who married that 16 year old girl booked.
A/V is Chris Farren & Jeff Rosenstock
Drums by Benny Horowitz
Bass on “Sometimes” by Mike Campbell
Guitar Solo on “Bang!” by Casey Lee
Additional Vocals on “Guest List Spots” by Laura Stevenson
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