Palm Reader:ZZZZ

Title: Palm Reader

Label: Polyvinyl

Genre: Gypsy brass meets no wave

Rating: 6.8 of 7

Holy shit, Polyvinyl’s done it again. This time taking a Chicago quartet made up of an amplified and often delayed alto sax, electric piano, fretless bass, drum and spastic, back-and-forth male/female vocals. Lying somewhere between gypsy brass and no wave, ZZZZ is extremely intriguing and amazingly good. Made up of ex-Sweep the Leg Johnny, Swing Kids and Tekulvi members along with a classically trained pianist, to say this band is diverse is not even close to being enough. Their sound is reminiscent of art-punk and even ska, but there is definitely not a name for this craziness. Produced by John Congelton, who has worked with other left-of-center groups like the pAper chAse and Explosions in the Sky, Palm Reader is straight out of one of Tim Burton’s wet dreams, conjuring images of clay-mation gypsies reeking havoc among unsuspecting villagers. This is the band you want playing at your Halloween no wave dance party, completely destroying the stage and setting the dance floor on fire. Godbless cleverness, inventiveness and Polyvinyl.

Main Page