Beautiful Freaks and the affirmational raw punches of "Loser Sellouts"

 

"Look out the people in this town / Don't take very kindly if you're too loud / I found out that caring is costly / When your only goal is to sell yourself..."

The declarative, affirmational raw punches of "Loser Sellouts" by Seattle’s Beautiful Freaks is a glorious alt rock song, maybe suspended in dabs of 90's grunge and sort of 2000's alt rock atmospheres. For me, sonically, it has the kind of heavy subversions on full display and a guitar sound, a dense sound that reminds me of PJ Harvey (specifically the ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ album. I know I am going back and that Beautiful Freak's sound has touchstones to many eras even before and certainly after but at this time, in my frazzled mind, the 2000's is what I am sensing. Anyway, the guitar / songwriting arc here, the narrative, squealing feedback, sparkling soft spots and big choppy walls is cool and magnetic. 

The potent evocative vocals spouting lyrical social commentary thrown down full of youthful angst and justice warrioring that can only be as great as it is here because  it really is the domain of the young and I as an old dog don't mind saying that and I as an old raucous dog am proud of the youth in this regard (not to sound paternal). A swing to sellouts especially in rock and punk genres, a swing to the infestation of music as a commodity (FUCK YOU Spotify) and the devaluation of art itself is irritating and disturbing. I noticed this years ago when everyone was wearing Ramones and Nirvana t-shirts who likely don't own or listen to their music. Commercial distillation into a kind of musical poseur appropriation. 

Check out these great superbly written LINER NOTES:

[Seattle’s Beautiful Freaks represents punk at yet another generational shift. It’s not safety pins or green hair, and it’s not thick necks or masculine posturing. Instead, it’s defiantly genderqueer and untethered to any one style: glam rock flamboyancy, hardcore punk, regional sludgy grunge, metal’s intensity, and the melodic sensibility of jazz all find their way into the mix. But genre is a concept for the “mediocre millennial butt-rock rockers” that singer Meg Hall (they/she) chastises on live staple “Loser Sellouts.” Vibe is ultimately what matters now, and the vibe they bring to the table — especially at their chaotic, caustic live shows — is one of an impending apocalypse. At shows, scores of young punks validate their anxieties in the therapeutic physicality of an unceasing mosh pit, over which guitarists James Bonaci (they/she) and Cyra Wirth (she/her), drummer Peter Bryson (he/him) and Tony LeFaive (he/him) conduct the mayhem. It’s all part of a return to the raucous Seattle known to history, albeit one ready to answer for its previous transgressions. Today, Beautiful Freaks have fostered a hardcore following, in more ways than one. The music they make is in lockstep with a burgeoning wave of restless, vitriolic, predominantly queer punk acts in the greater Seattle area. The Freaks endeavor not to lead this charge so much as foster it from the frontlines.]

Beautiful Freaks is a great name because indie rock and punk or any non-normie music is often times the domain, the cathartic outlet for the freaks and geeks among us. In the 80's when I chose to dress how I wanted to express myself as an artist / musician all of the time (as opposed to only on stage) and I was called a faggot more than once, I wore it as a badge of honor, a laser focused spotlight of who the ass holes were. They are still out there by the way, fuck, they are in Congress and want to again be in the White House. Keep punching. 

If you dig "Loser Sellouts" here is a LINK to the "We Talk To Birds" Album : click

VOTE BLUE

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5tJfNINTrAOoHtq5URMYq5

https://www.instagram.com/beautifulfreaksonline/

https://www.facebook.com/TheBeautifulFreaksMusic/

https://razorcake.org/razorcake-141-featuring-dead-pioneers-beautiful-freaks-science-man-aaron-melnick-and-one-punks-guide-to-therapy/


Seattle’s Beautiful Freaks represents punk at yet another generational shift. It’s not safety pins or green hair, and it’s not thick necks or masculine posturing. Instead, it’s defiantly genderqueer and untethered to any one style: glam rock flamboyancy, hardcore punk, regional sludgy grunge, metal’s intensity, and the melodic sensibility of jazz all find their way into the mix. But genre is a concept for the “mediocre millennial butt-rock rockers” that singer Meg Hall (they/she) chastises on live staple “Loser Sellouts.” Vibe is ultimately what matters now, and the vibe they bring to the table — especially at their chaotic, caustic live shows — is one of an impending apocalypse. 

Beautiful Freaks, "Loser Sellouts", alt rock, indie rock, post punk, punk, New Album "We Talk To Birds", Seattle, grunge, jazz stabs, post hardcore, heavy subversions, vocalist Meg Hall (they/she),