Zebrassieres

Zebrassieres emerged from the same fertile Ottawa pop-punk scene as White Wires and Steve Adamyk, though lead singer/songwriter Andrew Payne has recently relocated to Toronto. He’s brought the Zebrassieres name with him, but not his bandmates, so garage-psych rockers the Ketamines (recent transplants from Lethbridge, Alberta) have come aboard. Together, they deliver an infectious whiplash of a re-debut that urgently screams “Pay attention, Toronto.”

Ten songs and 18 minutes long, I Am A Human is pretty much all hooks, a trait that means Zebrassieres fit nicely on pop-punk bills. The Ketamines’ synth textures and precise rhythms, meanwhile, accentuate Payne’s ever-present herky-jerky New Wave-isms. He’s obviously been listening to Devo, though Zebrassiere’s all-killer, no-filler brevity and newfound male/female vocals give them a flavour all their own. It’s so much fun, you’ll hit repeat as soon as it’s over.

Top track: Electric Mutation - Now Magazine

Germany’s P. Trash Records has a long-standing obsession with Ontario’s punk scene, and for good reason: They’ve had their pizza-grease-covered fingers all over the province’s brashest, from Steve Adamyk, to Brutal Knights, to up-and-coming Toronto snot-rock outfit Pink Wine. Their hot streak continues with Zebrassieres, a Toronto-via-Ottawa new wave/future-pop act helmed by Bytown punk-scene vet Andrew Payne, who recently recruited Mammoth Cave mainstays (and current Hogtown residents) the Ketamines as his backup band. So, yeah, believe the stat sheet: I Am a Human is a wonderfully accomplished record.

Part of it boils down to I Am a Human’s attention to detail. Much of the LP hits like a whippet-fuelled interpretation of Devo’s Freedom of Choice: Retro spaceman synths cascade delightfully throughout the LP, while Payne’s jittery, near-paranoid vocal delivery paints most tracks with a sense of listen-now urgency. Between the lines, Human’s references are more fascinating still: Sing-song, bratty vocal lines recall Pointed Sticks-esque power pop (“Disconnected Frequency”), boy-girl call-and-response vocals reference the Pacific Northwest’s revered DIY scene, and, at times, Zebrassieres veer into the spacey psych of — guess who — the Ketamines. (As on “Economy Lobotomy,” a song that should earn new bassist Paul Lawton the nickname “Paul Loboton.”) Payne’s not pushing new-wave boundaries here, but he’s refining them — and it’s a pleasure to hear him in his comfort zone. - FFWD Weekly