The Cincinnati synth-punk trio dials up the energy on a zippy new album.

Cincinnati’s the Serfs share significant lineup overlap with the Drin, the gnarled and scuzzy post-punk/garage-rock band whose January LP Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom was one of winter’s most pleasant surprises (if you can say such a thing about a band whose default mode tends to be ugly). Now it’s the Serfs’ turn in the spotlight.

Friday, the band — self-described as a “deliberately nebulous and incidentally industrialist gang of dance-floor hymners” — released their new album Half Eaten By Dogs. With a disposition that carries over from the Drin, it’s almost too gritty and hallucinatory to be described as dance-punk, but it’s also too industrial to qualify as rock ‘n’ roll. Maybe think of it as a way-deeper-underground Primal Scream or a version of Skinny Puppy fueled by cheaper beer and nastier drugs. Total Control, whose Mikey Young mastered the record, is also a worthy reference point.

Stream Half Eaten By Dogs below.

Source: Stereogum