Parts & Labor's
Stay Afraid is a clamorous piece of noise rock brilliance. Three years since their collaboration with vocalist
Tyondai Braxton,
Parts & Labor finally seem sound. Bassist BJ Warshaw and keyboard player
Dan Friel expand their punk palate without getting too experimental. Drummer Christopher R. Weingarten makes his recording debut with the band, providing more than enough punch and kick for these 10 songs. Slamming album opener "A Great Divide" is a nervy horsewhip of chintzy electronics and blistering guitars, setting the album's anxious pace at full throttle. "Drastic Measures" and "New Buildings" build upon that tenacity without repetition while echoing bits of classic
Hüsker Dü. "Repair" starts out like a soldier's march with Weingarten's quickening drum beats. Warshaw's muddied vocals run to catch up to the build up of frenzied sound. Through it all, Warshaw's lyrics showcase a nervous public, its support of excessive consumerism and its suspicions of the leaders at hand.
Stay Afraid is loud and clear in its delivery. There's no catch here.
Parts & Labor sound pretty serious when it comes to making smart indie rock in 2006. ~ MacKenzie Wilson