The Ergs!
Jersey's Best Prancers (2006)
Brian Shultz
With similarities to their pop-punk brethren the Queers and Screeching Weasel, the Ergs! could easily be filed by many as just another geeky Ramonescore band going through the motions, but with an odd sense of humor, silly candor and steady Descendents influence, they're really doing their own thing.
Last year's Jersey's Best Prancers (an obvious spoof on Lifetime's Jersey's Best Dancers that even goes so far as the front and back album covers) is a short and completely sweet seven-song EP that just about makes it impossible to overstay its welcome. While I admit the sugary crunch of Hunchback's Miranda Taylor had me convinced she was really Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer's Rachel Minton, her guest contributions all the same are superb -- the Ergs! play tightly as a three-piece but it actually would sound even more fun with her on the full-time payroll. She really peps up "Kind of Like Smitten" and "Fin," but it's not as though the Ergs! are terrible without her.
Nope, the Ergs! are completely capable on their own with simple, distorted three-chord adventures in the background, the occasional solo brought up front and snotty, endearingly youthful vocals leading the way in standouts like the aforementioned "Fin" and the acoustic-accompanied "Bridge." "Man of Infirmity" slows it down just a bit and offers a greatly unique tempo for the EP.
Oh yeah, Chad Price (ALL) sings on "Radio K." His role is minimal, but still pretty rad.
Yeah, the Ergs! have a shitton of releases in their catalog already, and yeah, this came out last year on CD and 2005 on vinyl, and I bet none of their albums/EPs are as anticipated as their new full-length, set to drop via Dirtnap in less than two weeks. But the brevity and cleverness contained on Jersey's Best Prancers are traits that should hook you into listening for a lifetime.