This week's Breaking Sounds feature record is the debut 7 inch EP by Denton, TX pop renegades the Bad Sports, who notably include the rambunctious TV's Daniel, guitarist/songwriter from the Wax Museums, and video director extraordinaire. Along with his cohorts Orville and Greg, they offer yet another extension to the rapidly growing family tree of promising side projects emanating from the Denton Underground. This EP contains three excitingly distinguishable songs, all perfectly executed with the careless panache of true off-the-cuff rock'n'roll greatness, and all contributing to the churning exhilaration of discovering of a great new punk band right under your nose. As soon as the first song, "All The Time" makes it's initial rotation, it's evident that this is no Wax Museums carbon copy, and the almost flowery-sounding "Pictures of Lily"-era Who chords suck you right in to the Bad Sports' pop spectrum of paralysis just in time for the dizzying "I'm OK" to soak your nylon basketball shorts. To say that this exceeds expectations would be a tremendous understatement. These songs go in for the kill and don't let up until your brain is cordially washed.
Taking a more melodic stab on the Wax Museums 'formula' would be a step in the right direction, but also selling them short, so it's best to not make any prejudices until you hear it for yourself, as this debut has knockout written all over it. After several repeated plays, it's clear that the true gem lies in the last track of this single, "Asshole With The Girl" which is one of the best under 60 second songs of the new millennium, hands down. It sticks in your head for days and manages to say everything within the amount of time when most bands fall flat on their faces. Unlike TV's Daniel's numerous other side projects like The Wrists, Pumpers, and his TV's Daniel One Man Mess, Bad Sports are poised to actually hit the road and convert a lot of folks into drooling fanatics, so the chances of seeing them outside of their hometown is luckily in our favor. Their fresh take on ugly pop music is really going to turn some heads, so it's in everyone's best interest to pick up this, their debut record on Boom Chick before it's inevitably out of print and lost behind miles of other great Bad Sports records, undoubtedly right around the corner. Keep an eye out for their follow-up 7" on Big Action Records later this month as well, and catch the Bad Sports live out on the road next month on their mini tour, and see them in person in their hometown this weekend at Club Dada.
Pick up the 7" right HERE, and check out TV's Daniel's video for "All The Time" right here...
