We have been preaching feverishly at The Bug Club altar for quite some time now, so it’ll come as little surprise to anyone that their Sub Pop debut is very much up our street.
Caldicot (South Wales) trio The Bug Club are a hoot, man. Muscular but gloriously throwaway pop songs and a work ethic that absolutely veers towards the savant. Following on from their breakout Green Dream in F#, the 47-track Rare Birds album plus dozens of singles, a live album and some 200+ gigs a year, On The Intricate Inner Workings Of The System is the trio’s debut for the iconic Sub Pop and it really is pure joy.
Listen | "Quality Pints"
Although they joke wryly to the contrary, this is all actually very smart music, The observations are pin sharp, both in the off-kilter and droll lyrics, but also in that they have created alchemy binding Modern Lovers drive, B-52’s call-and-response fun (and surrealism) and AC/DC scale riffs. For all the queues and references, it’s all very much them and On The Intricate Inner Workings Of The System is their finest moments in a short but already ludicrously prolific career.
The album was recorded at Rat Trap studios in Cardiff with Tom Rees of the band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and they have collectively captured the incendiary crackle of the band’s live shows. Eleven songs in twenty-six minutes, all killer, no filler, zero fat; like watching a stand up routine on a rollercoaster. You’ll laugh and you'll yelp, it’s all good.
Listen | "Lonsdale Slipons"
Songs about James Bond, The Cooler King and Lonsdale slip-on daps, it might all be too silly if it wasn’t such ludicrously good fun. A really great record from a really great band.
+ Available as a limited Loser Edition, pressed on Red & Orange Marbled vinyl.
On The Intricate Inner Workings Of The System is the eighth release of 2024 for those of you signed up to the Drift Record of the Month Club.
Find out more here.
Recent 'Record of the Month' albums at Drift have included; Orquesta Akokán, O., Mdou Moctar, Gustaf, Adrianne Lenker, William Doyle, Bill Ryder-Jones, Harp, Hotline TNT, Black Pumas, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Georgia, Cory Hanson, Overmono, North Americans, H. Hawkline, Yo La Tengo, The Murder Capital, Goat Girl, Black Country, New Road, Jane Weaver, Dry Cleaning, Squid, White Flowers, Stephen Fretwell, Chubby and the Gang, Low, BADBADNOTGOOD, Damon Albarn, Geese, Silverbacks, Cate Le Bon, Huerco S., Daniel Rossen, Kevin Morby, Vintage Crop, Viagra Boys, The Lounge Society, Jockstrap, Trevor Beales, Aoife Nessa Frances and Sarathy Korwar.