The whole questionable band name has been discussed before, and whenever a band with a weird name floats its way into the shallow end of the mainstream the discussion is rehashed, and we get nowhere and bands keep on doing what they’re doing because who really gives a shit what a bunch of people that sit around in an office typing away at computers all day think about questionable band names? Well, someone must, because we’ve already defended those strange band names right here at Impose. And then another band with a wacky name pops up on our radar and it’s impossible not to think about the topic again. That brings us to today, when we were introduced to a New York City-based post punk outfit called Giggly Boys, a name that is so much the opposite of their sound that it’s nearly ludicrous.
There is very little information on the band on the old Google search, albeit some mentions of them playing shows around Brooklyn. The best record there is of Giggly Boys on the interwebs is their first recorded offering, simply and confusingly titled .. No, that is not just a sadly truncated ellipsis; that is the name of the EP (.) followed by a period (.). Per editorial style at Impose, the title of the EP is italicized, but that effort might be rendered completely moot by the period’s unwillingness to ever really appear italicized. Maybe that was Giggly Boys’ goal here, to make . nearly impossible to write about without making the writer look like he doesn’t know a thing about grammar. Anyway, it’s supposed to be about the music, right?
“Turned Out”, the EP’s opener, finds Giggly Boys channeling a hybrid of WU LYF’s indie-alternative and traditional post punk aesthetic–guitars are steeped in reverb and the vocals are barked. What the vocals lack in melody they make up for in a breed of lazy anger. The same can be said of the whole album: guitars are strummed not with a technical force but with a lethargic clamor, the drums are hit hard but are done so loosely, the bass picks along in stride. Calling the music “lethargic” is not a criticism, though. From the dissonant freak out of “Ghost Hole” to the Sonic Youth-channeling “Acid Fight”, Giggly Boys do a great job of paying homage to New York’s grittier, dirtier days, just with an updated perspective. If today’s Brooklynites are deemed “slackers,” then Giggly Boys’ . is a criticism and acceptance of that trope, a reminder that New York once was and can still be as vibrant and disarrayed as the music the EP contains.
Next time, just give the album a name that looks better in writing. Punks.
. is available for pay-what-you-want via Giggly Boys’ Bandcamp.
