Iron Chic

Shitty Rambo [7 inch] (2009)

Timothy Karcich

If you had asked me a year ago what kind of scene Long Island had going for it, I would have laughed at you. There have been bands that have gotten popular, like Brand New and Taking Back Sunday; there are bands that have had cult followings, like Silent Majority and Latterman. However, the scene as a whole has always been relatively weak. Regardless, something is definitely happening now and it's pretty exciting. Enter Dead Broke Rekerds and Iron Chic.

Having released a demo last year, Iron Chic have been generating some buzz for themselves and the Shitty Rambo EP continues in the same vein as that demo. The songs aren't particularly fast, just solidly mid-tempo and the music raw and melodic.

The witty wordplay on Side A's "Shits/Giggles" makes for an interesting juxtaposition in a fairly depressing song, while what steals the show on "World's Greatest Detective" are the guitar harmonies and solo.

On Side B, the EP's best song, "Don't Tell Me, Stupid, Don't Show Me, Fuck You," shows off more impressive lyricism with, "We'll survive on the lies we're fed because you can't eat promises / It's an arrangement that tends to disappoint / We're not informed, we just miss the point." And "(I Never Get) Winded" rounds it out nicely on an optimistic note that, given the tone of that optimism, doesn't bastardize the previous three songs -- the moral of the song being that shit may suck, but sometimes good songs can make up for that.

There's a modesty to this record that's charming and I hope the band keeps building on what they've shown here. Promising.