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Big pop acts like One Direction and Justin Bieber produce hits to fuel irrational teen crazes, but their music typically resides in the realm of optimistic, superficial fantasy – well away from the crushing emotions that actually define adolescence.
Hunx and His Punx singer/songwriters Seth Bogart and Shannon Shaw, on the other hand, are masters at tossing relatable banalities into songs that sound worlds more uninhibited than the current teen-idol fare. On Street Punk, they move away from the plaintive girl group harmonies of Bogart’s 2012 solo LP, Hairdresser Blues, to embrace snarling, furiously rhythmic 70s punk influences reminiscent of Shaw’s other band, Shannon and the Clams. Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, it’s full of big choruses and riotous, sharply funny and emotionally fraught odes to acne, awkwardness, anti-conformity and falling for the dorky bad boy. The band’s best album to date.
Top track: You Think You’re Tough
Hunx and His Punx play the Hard Luck Bar on August 22.