Pressure Drop

The Velvet Margins play post-punk like they invented it last week. Pressure Drop is a tight, aggressive record that doesn't waste a second, with guitar lines that cut and a rhythm section that locks in and refuses to let go. The vocalist delivers every line with a dry, almost bored intensity that suits the material perfectly — this is music that doesn't beg for your attention, it demands it. The production is raw but not sloppy; you can hear the room, which is exactly right for this kind of record. The band's influences are clear — Wire, Gang of Four, early Interpol — but they're not imitating. They're building on a tradition and adding something of their own. A few tracks in the middle run together, but the opening three songs and the closing two are as good as anything in the genre right now.