Hey! That was great! I love how it starts off jaunty and pleasant with the guitars, and then it kicks into a punchy rhythm with punky distorted bass, alternately squealing and angular guitars. The vocals and whole vibe are reminiscent of 31 Knots, Fugazi, and Dag Nasty collaborating on a union hall stage for a $5 show circa ’03. The motif follows throughout the song, warping and twisting the pleasant vibes into increasingly frantic and darker places as it crescendos into a dream-like reversal of itself before ending in a deconstructed version of what once was.
Thematically, “Sticky Hands” isn’t very close to my dream. Guitarist and vocalist Christoph Hennig writes, ‘When writing “Sticky Hands”, I actually had the typical power-hungry person in mind: the ex-boss, the full-time politician, or the mysterious man who pulls the strings. Driven by a relentless will to dominate and control things, he will continue on his path no matter what. The song is an outlet for our deep antipathy towards this unsavory human species.’
That is kind of closer to Home Alone 2: Lost In New York‘s Sticky Bandits, but instead of being about down-on-their-luck and fresh-out-of-jail cat burglars it is about the very real and un-jailed criminals who infect our daily lives with their greed and villainy. May their passing cleanse the world. Until then, however, I am thankful for angry, creatives like The Antikaroshi for carrying on the anti-establishment spirit of punk.
“Sticky Hands” is the second single from The Antikaroshi‘s sixth and upcoming album, L’inertie Polaire. The follow up to the excellent Extract.Transform.Debase from 2021. Their sound is hard to categorize. There is definitely D.C. punk in there, but the twists and turns The Antikaroshi pile into each song transcend any singular genre, like some sort of punk jazz messengers paying homage to past greats while carving their own path into the substrate of the underground.
L’inertie Polaire is out on May 31st via The Antikaroshi (digital, Bandcamp) and Exile on Mainstream (vinyl, pre-order here). Follow them on Instagram and stay tuned for more left-field punk ragers!
