Be Your Own Pet

Get Awkward (Ecstatic Peace!/Universal)

When Be Your Own Pet rampaged out of Nashville with its eponymous 2006 debut, the quartet was long on snotty attitude but somewhat lacking in the hooks department. Get Awkward—produced by Steven McDonald of legendary Los Angeles bubble-gum punks Redd Kross—represents a shocking leap forward. Get ready to embrace your new favourite band.

Make no mistake—the ADHD–afflicted kids of Be Your Own Pet still sound like they subsist on a diet of piss and vinegar, with the one-minute-blitzkrieg “Food Fight!” rocking just as ferociously as anything you’ll hear on the Warped Tour this summer. And if you want fuck-the-world attitude, look no further than “Bitches Leave”, where superbrat singer-bassist Jemina Pearl flips off hipper-than-thou scene-sters of the X-chromosome variety. Those who remember when punk was about breaking the rules will thrill at the way Get Awkward sounds every bit as art-damaged, fiercely original, and outright anarchic as L.A.’s the Masque circa 1980.

All riot-city guitars and hyper-frenetic drums, the 12 tracks—only two of which eclipse the three-minute mark—careen from saliva-and-sweat scorchers (“Super Soaked”) to garage-blasted no-wave (“Heart Throb”). Through it all, Pearl growls, shrieks, and spits like an on-the-rag Courtney Love in an anything-goes cage match with Karen O. Get Awkward’s best track, “The Kelly Affair”, finds the singer howling “It could be dangerous.” Consider that more than fair warning.