Slip Away

Allegedly, Total Slacker are part of a revival of the ‘90s: a time when they believe Thighmasters, Super Big Gulps, and the Olive Garden were central to culture. We’ll forgive the youngsters their miscomprehension of an era they missed. Their music, however, does feature sounds that were prevalent in early '90s (though for accuracy’s sake, many of these sounds were also heavily used by underground bands in the '80s). Whether it’s My Bloody Valentine or Sonic Youth they’re aiming to emulate, they often sound like Hüsker Dü and other bands that loved their fuzzboxes and knew how to use them. “Out of Body Experience” turns up the noise levels to an appropriate degree. “Fight the Babysitter Boyfriend” adopts the soft-loud dynamic of Pixies and Nirvana (with a Sonic Youth/Public Enemy–style interruption); the result reads like an outtake from a Dead Milkmen album. (See, again: the ‘80s!) Aside from the odd conceptual thrust, the music here rocks in that loose, noisy way of underground bands from the ‘80s and ‘90s, with little care if the mainstream understood a thing.