FOR FANS OF: The Vaccines, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys
Quick and Painless are an alternative rock band from Madison, Wisconsin, and on March 26th, 2021, they released an 4-track EP called Living/Loving The Lie. Quick and Painless consist of Everett Hwang Karlen (lead vocals, lead guitar), Ryan Badger (keyboards, rhythm guitar, vocals), Gray Frandy (bass), and Max Beardsley (drums, production). Living/Loving The Lie is a strong EP - one that shows firmly who Quick and Painless are, and what their sound is like. It's altogether reminiscent of early 2000's rock, a mix between Fall Out Boy's early punk days pre-hiatus, and early Arctic Monkeys, pre-AM era.
It's 4 tracks of alternative rock that's loud, furious, and full of youthful pain and troubles. It's a coming-of-age climax, the part in the movie where everything is really bad just before it gets better, before the main characters heal and become who they are. It's the last drop before the roller coaster comes to a slow stop and you get off, in search of refreshment and to patiently wait for the world to stop spinning. Basically, it's a fantastic EP.
"Pretty Poison" and "Apologies" complement each other as they're both about love, although the former is about brokenheartness and toxicity in a relationship, and "Apologies" is about asking for forgiveness. Both make for great listening. "Message Of A Teenage Martyr" is my favorite track out of the 4 - possibly my favorite out of Quick and Painless' entire discography so far. There's something about this track that makes me so excited, it's a strong track, full of wicked guitar sounds and lyrics that touch on the serious & brutal in a very raw and real way. It's a mosh-pit inducing song, a fantastic one. Living/Loving The Lie ends with "Conformity Culture," a track which is the band's personal look on society and disdain at the pressure it puts on all of us to conform to be a certain way. That certain way can be a lot of things, such as the ever-present pressure from social media to be perfect and have aesthetically-pleasing, ultra-filtered, and photoshopped lives, bodies, and minds, which isn't healthy.
Overall, these 4 tracks are overbearingly worth listening to, worth giving a chance. Quick and Painless are a young, new band who make rock music that is real and honest, music that is a refreshing sound for your ears.
Quick and Painless are currently doing live sets for four Saturdays of this month in a row. You can catch last Saturday's on their Youtube, linked below, and catch this week's live on their Youtube, so make sure you subscribe to their channel and turn on post notifications so you don't miss them while they're live!
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