"I guess today’s the day / You started paying to play / There’s nothing out here for free don’t you see / Trick or treat is the key mon ami..."
The bloody politico post punk battering ram of "Schadenfreude Ploy" by Charm School, the latest project from Louisville, KY born and LA-based multi-hyphenate artist Andrew Sellers and his longtime collaborators Matt Filip, Drew English & Brian Vega, is not for the faint of heart or the weary among us. I include myself as one of the weary, tired of all the fascistic bullshit tossed on our emotional doorsteps like dead animals each and every day. I have to fully admit that Charm School's cacophonic sound assault that mirrors, in many ways, the unrelenting insidious nature of our slide away from freedom and empathy, was too much for me and, in fact, this song was too much for me to take. The strident boxy screaming electric guitar lines, the slapping drums pummeling in hypnotically feral ways, Sellars purposely caveat saturated / meets dog whistling vocal howl and the absolutely discordant sax fluttering, made me feel incredibly claustrophobic. I let this "Schadenfreude Ploy" (the title track of their brand new EP) in my approved in box for a long time before I realized that the pit in my stomach was the exact point, the anti-empathetic rodent poison was the point.
I guess today’s the day
You started paying to play
There’s nothing out here for free don’t you see
Trick or treat is the key mon ami
So you better follow the signs
And read between those lines
It’s all a masquerade
Either make your play
Or you’ll be getting played
There’s no “real world”
That’s a contradiction in terms
There’s just a Schadenfreude ployed
Hall of Mirrors
So you’ve been paying your bills
Look at you you’re giving me chills
You’re putting money away every day
You don’t say ok now take it away
But something ain’t quite right
It’s keeping you up late at night
No matter how much you make
No it’s never quite enough for you to make any headway
There’s no “real world”
That’s a contradiction in terms
There’s just a Schadenfreude ployed
Hall of mirrors
There’s no “real world”
That’s a thing of the past
There’s just a Schadenfreude ployed
Hall of Mirrors
You started paying to play
There’s nothing out here for free don’t you see
Trick or treat is the key mon ami
So you better follow the signs
And read between those lines
It’s all a masquerade
Either make your play
Or you’ll be getting played
There’s no “real world”
That’s a contradiction in terms
There’s just a Schadenfreude ployed
Hall of Mirrors
So you’ve been paying your bills
Look at you you’re giving me chills
You’re putting money away every day
You don’t say ok now take it away
But something ain’t quite right
It’s keeping you up late at night
No matter how much you make
No it’s never quite enough for you to make any headway
There’s no “real world”
That’s a contradiction in terms
There’s just a Schadenfreude ployed
Hall of mirrors
There’s no “real world”
That’s a thing of the past
There’s just a Schadenfreude ployed
Hall of Mirrors
Like a caustic amalgam of Butthole Surfers, The Jim Carroll Band, One Day as a Lion, Tomahawk, Tropical Fuck Storm, it is quite apparent that Charm School (great name given their sound) is willing to be off putting to some to get their artistic / political approach across and I appreciate that.
[“Schadenfreude Ploy”, out February 20th, picks up where “Debt Forever” left off — with further musings on humanity’s collective tortured psyche and the many confounding implications of living in today’s technocratic hellscape. The concepts of Tech billionaires & A.I. loom large, as well as modern life’s various manipulation traps which seem to be more and more ubiquitous and less and less escapable.]
[The EP was tracked and mixed by Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording (Deerhoof, Built To Spill), with additional production and mixing by Solomon Krause-Imlach in Los Angeles. It was mastered by Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering Service (co-owned by Bob Weston of Shellac, a man who’s musical past is weaved together tightly with Louisville’s).]
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Their first EP “Finite Jest”, released in July of 2023, introduced listeners to a philosophically minded, crushingly loud critique of modern life’s increasingly maddening realities. Their debut LP “Debt Forever”, released in January of 2025, introduced a broader range of stylistic influences and a far more acerbic viewpoint, its lyrics drenched in addictively salty, satirical humor.]
[“Schadenfreude Ploy”, out February 20th, picks up where “Debt Forever” left off — with further musings on humanity’s collective tortured psyche and the many confounding implications of living in today’s technocratic hellscape. The concepts of Tech billionaires & A.I. loom large, as well as modern life’s various manipulation traps which seem to be more and more ubiquitous and less and less escapable.]
[The EP was tracked and mixed by Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording (Deerhoof, Built To Spill), with additional production and mixing by Solomon Krause-Imlach in Los Angeles. It was mastered by Greg Obis at Chicago Mastering Service (co-owned by Bob Weston of Shellac, a man who’s musical past is weaved together tightly with Louisville’s).]
-Robb Donker Curtius
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
https://soundcloud.com/charm-school777/simulacra
https://charmschool777.bandcamp.com/album/schadenfreude-ploy
https://www.instagram.com/charmschool.band
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/charm-school777/simulacra
https://charmschool777.bandcamp.com/album/schadenfreude-ploy
https://www.instagram.com/charmschool.band
https://www.facebook.com/CharmSchool777
Charm School = LA-based No Wave Post Punk originally from Louisville, KY (home of Slint, Rodan, Crain, The Shipping News, etc.).
"Charm School has tapped into a well of influence that includes both The Fall and Pere Ubu and more modern No Wave-esque post-punkers Lithics and Protomartyr."
- Queen City Sounds & Art
Charm School is the latest project from Andrew Sellers (aka Andrew Charm) and longtime collaborators Matt Filip, Drew English, & Brian Vega, along with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Jason Bemis Lawrence. The name change signals a move away from Charm's previous songwriting (as evidenced by his recent duet with Bonnie “Prince” Billy) toward a much darker and more aggressive sound. Think 70s Post-Punk & No Wave mixed with 90s Post-Rock and you’ll be close.
Originally from Louisville, KY, Sellers has paid his dues in both the NYC and LA DIY music scenes, co-founding The Body Actualized Center in Bushwick and helping run the DIY venue Basic Flowers in Downtown LA.
Charm School's 1st EP 'Finite Jest' was released in 2023, and their forthcoming LP (titled 'Debt Forever') is due out in January of 2025.
RIYL: The Fall, Gang Of Four, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Protomartyr, Public Image Ltd., IDLES, Swans, The Jesus Lizard, & Wire.
Charm School = LA-based No Wave Post Punk originally from Louisville, KY (home of Slint, Rodan, Crain, The Shipping News, etc.).
"Charm School has tapped into a well of influence that includes both The Fall and Pere Ubu and more modern No Wave-esque post-punkers Lithics and Protomartyr."
- Queen City Sounds & Art
Charm School is the latest project from Andrew Sellers (aka Andrew Charm) and longtime collaborators Matt Filip, Drew English, & Brian Vega, along with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Jason Bemis Lawrence. The name change signals a move away from Charm's previous songwriting (as evidenced by his recent duet with Bonnie “Prince” Billy) toward a much darker and more aggressive sound. Think 70s Post-Punk & No Wave mixed with 90s Post-Rock and you’ll be close.
Originally from Louisville, KY, Sellers has paid his dues in both the NYC and LA DIY music scenes, co-founding The Body Actualized Center in Bushwick and helping run the DIY venue Basic Flowers in Downtown LA.
Charm School's 1st EP 'Finite Jest' was released in 2023, and their forthcoming LP (titled 'Debt Forever') is due out in January of 2025.
RIYL: The Fall, Gang Of Four, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Protomartyr, Public Image Ltd., IDLES, Swans, The Jesus Lizard, & Wire.
Charm School, LA based NO WAVE POST PUNK, Louisville KY bred, abstract post punk, punk, alt rock, garage rock, indie rock, noise rock, "Schadenfreude Ploy", (Official Visualizer), "Schadenfreude Ploy" EP,
No comments:
Post a Comment