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TYVEK

Tyvek have long stood as one of the more steadfast and dependable punk institutions of the last decade. Each record has been great and has improved on the one before it without struggling to reinvent or overwrite their past. Line-ups and life events shift but the energy always comes through as new and raw as it did on the first single. Origin of What, their fourth album, is something of a departure, if a cryptic one—all the familiar elements are in place and yet a pervasive darkness that these strangely disjointed songs.

Working again with Fred Thomas who recorded their most recent album, 2012 burner On Triple Beams, band members from the earliest incarnations to its most recent showed up for various recording sessions, with initial tracks captured quickly. Later, far more extensive editing, mixing and overdubbing ensued, resulting in a fragmented production style that slowly disintegrates the standard punk fare until it starts to resemble dub experimentation before decaying even further. Tyvek’s future, like its origin, is up for grabs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tip To Tail
2. Can't Exist
3. Girl On A Bicycle
4. Gridlock
5. Mirror Image Of
6. Count Me In
7. Into The Outlets
8. Origin Of What
9. Real Estate & Finance
10. Choose Once
11. Tyvek Chant
13. Underwater 3

It’s morning in Detroit: Organic cafes are sprouting up where liquor stores once dominated the landscape, cycle lanes now line even the most impassable roadways, and an army of aimless (white) youth, the shock troops of gentrification, are living out their wild west fantasies in maximum comfort and self-satisfaction. The names of their wifi networks tell the story: “homesteader,” “eastside settler,” “landgrabba.” They come for a reason: a cheap practice space in other people’s misery.

True to their contrarian instincts, Tyvek won’t give any quarter to the well heeled (and no doubt well intentioned) drum circle that has invaded their hometown, but they also can’t help but feel a certain optimism. Their third album, On Triple Beams, picks up where the blistering proto-hardcore of the Nothing Fits record leaves off, but doesn’t tarry long in familiar zones. The melodies open up into a much more spacious musical headspace, channeling unexpected positivity on tracks like “Wayne County Roads,” “Say Yeah” and “Returns.” Produced by Fred Thomas, On Triple Beams is hard and direct but it doesn’t pummel. Likewise, the lyrics ain’t pedantic. Searing punk rock is still the order of the day, and the tunes are just bangin’. And in case there’s any doubt: these are tunes in a major way—the songwriting chops are on this album are completely out of place in the 2012 bumper crop of plastic platters.

Welcome to the strange path that Tyvek has trod for the past eight years: for every step forward, they take two steps to the side for good measure. This trip won’t be spoiled by the crass opportunism of the Nu-Detroiters: they have to keep it real. Sometimes the new jacks just gotta get put in check, and obviously Mommy and Daddy weren’t ever going to do it. In the midst of so much change, Tyvek is energized by the chaos of a city in flux, the crucial moments that make up everyday life, and the unfiltered reality of sensory experiences. Hear the sound and jump all around.

As Detroit continues its seemingly irreversible slide into the tar pits of economic despair, new traditionalists Tyvek unashamedly take the reins and harness the ambition to keep their slurred, manically refreshing noise pop bouncing around the skulls of everyone still breathing in the real, uncategorizable fumes of the original new wave. With an already impressive trail of essential releases behind them, including last year’s debut album and an infinitesimal stream of 'tour only' CDRs, the band is always evolving, yet never strays too far from the original cacophony that earned them a spot in the hallowed halls of modern punk’s elite erratics. As dynamically diverse as Tyvek’s recordings are, their live set also shifts dramatically with each new appearance, ranging from a monstrous five-piece to the currently stripped-down trio that gets the job done without sacrificing intensity or brazen brevity. With relentless touring, razor-sharp songwriting and the ability to adapt to their surroundings without resistance, no wonder Tyvek captures the off-center sounds of bygone-era DIY scrapings and spins them into gold, all without showing any influence of the 'Detroit sound' that’s known the world over.

Tyvek’s In The Red debut, "Nothing Fits", is a scalding collection of amped-up and thrust-out songs that cranks up the energy level far beyond their previous releases and decimates the detractors into the abyss. It’s Tyvek at their fiery, screaming best, and if this doesn’t curl your eyebrows and your toes simultaneously with excitement, then you might need to settle for something musically akin to hospital food or take another laxative, because this blast of new recordings might just flush out your system to the point of personal emergency.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Superb dumb-ass garage punk, fiery and amped-up into the red.

TRACK LISTING

1. 4312
2. Animal
3. Potato
4. Future Junk
5. Nothing Fits
6. Outer Limits
7. Underwater 1
8. Underwater 2
9. Kid Tut
10. Pricks In A Car
11. This One Or That One
12. Blocks


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