Sometimes, you just gotta cut loose and do something purely because it makes you happy. In our opinion, Teen Prime has been a shining example of this, as it seems they rarely if ever make an attempt to alert you to their presence – they prefer to let people discover their beds of absolute chaos naturally, allowing listeners to become enraptured on their own.
And rest assured, it happens – after all, we’re not dealing with prog as we know it or any tippy-tappy cute stuff here. Somewhere between the hypnotic grind of Lightning Bolt, the irreverent violence of Yowie, and the discombobulating waves of Don Caballero, Berlin’s Teen Prime is yet again spewing blissful, unholy noise with no. 10, their tenth EP.
When you’re listening with headphones or through decent speakers, it’s kind of like sitting underneath a giant explosion that just keeps on… exploding. Check out “The Singer” below to see what we mean.
Bizarre, half-possessed moans and drum rolls abound like a jazz record never meant to see the light of day, and we know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but seriously, journeying through the band’s whole discography is absolutely epic, and No. 10 doesn’t necessarily mark a new chapter for the band but it definitely signals that the band is more comfortable than ever with improvisation and highly-improbable arrangements.
Perhaps even more than a jazz record, Teen Prime’s no. 10 almost seems to display the tensions of horror-film scores, constantly keeping us on our seat. Is this what people felt like when they first heard “Rite of Spring” and started fucking and fighting, creating the world’s first mosh pit? We couldn’t really say, but ultimately we’d like to think that Stravinsky’s legacy of aural destruction is alive and well with Teen Prime.
(Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks like Doctors Without Borders, the PCRF, Charity Water, Kindness Ranch, One Tail at A Time, or Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more – click on their names above to check ‘em out if you’re so inclined. Thanks again!)