Celebrity Warship Culture
Recreational Everything
(Celebrity Warship Culture)

The moaning slow bent string plodding of “Recreational Everything” begins Celebrity Warship Culture’s new album of the same name. The Vancouver-based post-punk/experimental rock band, consisting of Liam Scott playing guitar, bass, synth, and singing, Mark Pickell manning the drums, Todd Pickell playing synthesizer, and Trevor Gay on guitar, bass, and singing seem to be mining a slightly shadier side of the street.

I like the bass beginning the proceedings, and Pickell’s sly drumming on “Medicational Nothing.” There’s a scary edge of urgency under the shouted (yet very effective) vocal. I truly like this one, with the scary soundscape behind the desperate voice and drumming. The repeated refrain of “What does it mean?” certainly gets the point across.

“Current Nostalgia” sets us down into a jangly Velvet Underground-like stew. Once again, the song is set, locked and loaded by Pickell’s superb drumming, and the vocal here might be about the best of the nine album tracks.

Some sly chording and strumming lay underneath “4am Doomer Club,” another song that presents a cool vocal (Celebrity Warship Culture knows well how to make the vocals throughout here as tonally interesting as their instruments). Once the phasing comes in with the drumming, we are into another solid little mover.

The straight driving punk song “Bill Hader” ends the record. Again, there is the screaming and the band seemingly just having a good time being loud. It’s a solid way to bring Recreational Everything to a close.