The whirling, Sonic Youth-style noise rave-up that occurs toward the end of “Death Benefit,” the first track from Dude Magnets’ Adult ADD, is a brief but telling moment; though the tunes on the Athens group’s debut EP are melodic, pop-centric things, they are underpinned by an uneasy sort of chaos.
Singer and guitarist Scott Sapp (no, not this guy) has a calm, faintly tender vocal delivery that likewise serves to create an interesting tension throughout. Played off his chunky, distorted guitar work and the rest of the group’s fast-and-loose style, it’s an anchored ship in a swirling sea.
You want reference points. Hints of underheralded ’90s rock stalwarts pop up throughout: 764-HERO, Chavez, Unwound. But Dude Magnets have conjured up a sound all their own, one that, in keeping with this town’s musical tradition, eschews pained modernity in favor of stripped-down, slack-rock ‘tude.
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