This was an earlier pick for album of the year for me. Viet Cong were formed out of the ashes of the great Calgary-based post-punk band, Women. Women had been one of my fave Canadian bands for a while, in fact, their second album Public Strain made my best of list back in 2010 at #4. The band's style of post-punk is very similar to what Women were doing. Women had a more structured and subtle sound, Viet Cong is a bit more chaotic, noisy and gloomy. "Continental Shelf" is the stand out track here, channeling the moody traditional Joy Division style of post-punk through a beefy bass line. A couple of tracks, "March of Progress" and the closer "Death" have some nice, noisy electronic noodling in them. The album is short though, just seven songs. This feels like a teaser for something bigger.
Viet Cong caused some controversy over the summer, when they were accused of having an offensive name. I wrote about this back in September, and honestly, it still ticks me off a bit. The whole social justice movement really boils my potatoes in general. Viet Cong, wanting to focus on music, have decided to change their name, though they don't have a name nailed down yet. So, right now they're The Band Formally Known as Viet Cong.
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