Review Summary: The Thirds pick up where the likes of Minutemen, Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. left off.
Are we in for a more meaningful and inspired versions of the Eighties - early Nineties post-punk hardcore/grunge revival? Did that stuff go away at all?
Who knows, what it is with Upstate NY trio The Thirds, but Dork Matter, their latest EP, recalls all those good moments Minutemen, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr. and Lemonheads brought us. From the cheeky statements ‘we’re inspired by Led Zeppelin and The Beach Boys’ to cramming diverse musical strands in less than thirteen minutes, The Thirds cover a lot of musical ground with quite a lot of musical knowledge and aplomb.
Joking aside, The Thirds actually remind us where all those great post-punk bands got their inspiration and try to infuse the idea of intelligent hardcore-style music with new life. After the jokey intro of “Buncha Nerds”, “Say A Few” sounds like a The Minutemen - Lemonheads jam demo in somebody’s basement, while “Statue of Limitations” could be something that for a mysterious reason was left off Husker Du’s “Candy Apple Grey”, maybe for its almost bluesy second section of the song.
The jazzy instrumental “Miracle Metal”, has no obvious connections with either miracles or metal, while “Maybe” is maybe as J. Mascis at his most melodic. The closing “Antimatter”, takes us back to D. Boon at his most jazzy in a manner it should be done. In essence, not only have The Thirds covered a lot of ground, but they were able to indicate that they could turn all their inspirations into something that is their own music.
Whatever intentions The Thirds have with their music ( on the evidence of this EP, their debut album “60/60 Vision” is certainly worth checking out), they have certainly hit on a golden streak of music that might not be in focus at the moment, but which certainly should.
