American Lips Release “Waste Of Crime” EP

Los Angeles and Montreal based trio, American Lips, have just released of the three track Waste of Crime maxi single via Ancient Fashion Records. The band features Death From Above 1979 drummer Sebastien Grainger and prolific producer Adrian Popovich, also known for his time in legendary Canadian rock act Tricky Woo. In explaining their newest offering the bands’ latest one-sheet asks you to ponder, “Ever wondered what it would sound like if The Art Of Noise produced a Plastic Bertrand record?” To clear up that question Popovich explains, “I spent a good chunk of 1988 listening to the Colors OST and the”Kiss” cassingle by The Art Of Noise and Tom Jones.

“This older kid Rob on my street who was into punk rock said “the Colors soundtrack is pretty cool but that Art Of Noise song is garbage!” As a nine-year-old, I’d yet to be called out on my questionable musical tastes. Rob made me a mixtape with songs by Ramones, The Misfits, Motörhead, Buzzcocks and a bunch of other essentials. I’d never heard any punk music before and the impact it had on me was huge. Fast forward to 2022, when Sebastien unilaterally decided to add Fairlight sample horn arrangements to two new American Lips songs, the simultaneous feelings of glorious discovery and deep shame I felt in 1988 came flooding back”. (Adrian Popovich)

Inspired by Wax Trax! Records, Shep Pettibone, Art Of Noise and a hot cut from The Ghostbusters OST, American Lips shed the punky garage wave of their 2017 debut album, Kiss The Void, and take a hard-drive dumpster-dive, emerging with a kind of “sample-bank pop” that is at once danceable, but stylistically hard to pin down (don’t call it dance punk!). Double A-sides Waste Of Crime and Labor Of Hate are backed by extended dub remix, Labor Of Dub. Fans of mid-80s Cabaret Voltaire, Ghostbusters OST, Decadent Dub Team, Rocket From The Crypt and Plastic Bertrand will rejoice in the exquisite peppering of influences in these new compositions.