Album Review: Urochromes – Trope House

Urochromes
Trope House
Wharf Cat Records
★★★★

Can you picture it? A Northeastern farmhouse is violated by the sounds of Urochromes. At the time a duo with a guitar and drum machine, the abrasive punk violating a peaceful and serene part of the American landscape. When you listen to Trope House, you not only picture it, you feel it’s obscene vibrations, an attack against musical technique. Yet, emotion overtakes any act of skill from Jackie Jackieboy and Dick Riddick. This is punk rock at its most primal.

When listening to Trope House, you want to shriek back in disgust. “Milllieux” is a protest to college rock party postering as much as “Rumshpringa” shuns the muscle rock mentality. It’s Urochromes revenge and you stand amazed at their confidence. It’s catchy as fuck when you aren’t quite sure what is so catchy about it. Yet it lingers in the brain like a shock wave.

Urochromes – Hair So Big Video

These songs are their own dimension of art rock. “Hair So Big” is Riddick’s monochromatic ecstasy while Jackieboy jerks all around with notes like lasers. Each turn of the page is a new attitude of punk destruction. Yet, no matter how beefy “Style” sounds or robotic punk “Resist Psychic Death” is, their sentiments are their own.

Is Trope House the reaction of two masterminds or how much of this album is flying by the seat of their pants. The line is murky. What I do know as fact is that we need this armpit sweat and absurd bastardizing at rock and roll. Someone needs to rough things up and “Answer Me Not” is a middle finger to the mannerisms of traditional rock and roll. I would love to think that the two were laughing all the way through the recording process of this song. Give this band a Nobel for making punk gritty again.