Charlotte, NC’s hardcore loyalists Junior Astronomers have just released their debut record, Dead Nostalgia, on Broken Circles Records. Capturing the proto-punk spirit of their musical ancestors, while still maintaining an anchor in modern rock sensibilities, the band has infused this album with the raucous spirit of youthful exuberance, with a deliberate heart-on-sleeve swagger. But rest assured, everything on Dead Nostalgia is turned up to 11. Guitars shoot out classic spitfire riffs and chords like they were being fed from a gun belt, and the thudding, acrobatic drumming keeps the songs moving toward some fixed point on the horizon.
But while the band’s influences are easy to spot (you’d be blind not to hear The Stooges’ feral rhythms and Television’s viciously melodic guitar assaults all over the album), Junior Astronomers never slide into rote imitation of their musical antecedents. By integrating traditional punk attitudes with a more modern hardcore intensity, they seamlessly blend these interrelated rock ancestries and show that bands separated by decades are joined by a communal lineage. Expertly threading complex rhythms and unhinged vocals, courtesy of singer Terrence Richard, with the band’s natural post-hardcore leanings, Dead Nostalgia is the uncompromising antidote to all the toothless rock records which litter the modern rock landscape.
Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere the album stream of Junior Astronomers’ debut record, Dead Nostalgia.
