Frankie And The Witch Fingers
Trash Classic
The Reverberation Appreciation Society / Greenway Records [2025]
“Like Devo lost in a haunted arcade—Trash Classic is weird, wired, and built to blow minds live.”
Album Overview: Frankie and the Witch Fingers have been grinding in the psych-punk underground since the early 2010s, building a reputation through nonstop touring and a consistently evolving catalog. Originally from Indiana and now operating out of Los Angeles, the band’s sound has morphed over time—from fuzzed-out garage rock to something sharper, weirder, and more ambitious. Known for their electrifying live sets, they’ve never been ones to stay in a single lane, embracing change while holding on to their DIY roots.
Trash Classic is another bold swerve. Rather than recycle riffs or retreat into comfort zones, the band charges into a darker, more synthetic realm. It’s a conceptually rich record driven by contradiction—grimy yet sleek, tightly wound but on the edge of collapse. Imagine a malfunctioning machine spitting out satire, anxiety, and warped grooves in a never-ending loop. With producer Maryam Qudus (Spacemoth, La Luz) at the controls, Trash Classic ditches the psych sprawl of 2023’s Data Doom in favor of something leaner, twitchier, and way more unpredictable.
Musical Style: On Trash Classic, Frankie and the Witch Fingers fuse angular post-punk with a jittery electronic pulse. Synths take center stage, often replacing guitars as the melodic backbone, while drums slam with a mechanical precision. The record dances on the edge between punk chaos and early industrial cool, with flashes of warped disco tossed in for good measure. Rhythms stutter, lurch, and snap—rarely flowing smoothly, but always hitting with intent. It’s music that grips you by the collar and doesn’t let go.
Evolution of Sound: Compared to their earlier work, Trash Classic feels like a risky move—and it totally lands. Where Data Doom flirted with sci-fi minimalism and coldwave textures, this record goes all-in on its synthetic urges. Gone are the psych-jam detours; in their place are punchy, tightly structured tracks that explode, then vanish before you can catch your breath. It’s the sound of a band reinventing itself in real time, driven by new surroundings, a new producer, and a desire to explore extremes.
Artists with Similar Fire: Think Thee Oh Sees at their most electronic and unhinged. There are shades of early Liars in the groove-heavy chaos, plus the sharp-edged weirdness of Brainiac. Fans of HEALTH or the rawer early side of Nine Inch Nails will find plenty to latch onto. There’s also a definite Devo streak in the robotic rhythms and sarcasm-laced vocals, along with flashes of Wall of Voodoo and Oingo Boingo new wave in the theatrical, synth-soaked weirdness.
Pivotal Tracks: From the opening instrumental intro “Channel Rot,” the band sets the tone—skittering rhythms and eerie synths that act like a warped signal transmission, inviting you into the madness. “Gutter Priestess” snarls with sleazy riffs and hypnotic electronics, like trash cinema turned into a dancefloor banger. “Out of the Flesh” delivers some of the album’s sharpest vocal call-out hook punches, while “Economy” is the album’s cracked mirror centerpiece—spinning late-stage capitalism into a head-bobbing, teeth-clenching groove. “Dead Silence” veers into haunted territory with field recordings and ghostly vocals that stretch the band’s sound into strange new shapes. “Total Reset” proves they can still hit hard within a glossy, post-new wave framework. Each track feels like a mood swing with a pulse—built to surprise, and made to move.
Lyrical Strength: The lyrics don’t handhold—they jab, twist, and morph like digital static. Packed with sarcasm, repetition, and offbeat metaphors, the words echo the record’s themes of consumption, collapse, and identity overload. There’s no preachy tone here—just surreal snapshots and apocalyptic punchlines, delivered with a smirk. The band’s theatrical streak shines through, giving listeners just enough to chew on without killing the momentum.
Final Groove: Trash Classic is the sound of Frankie and the Witch Fingers letting loose—and having a blast while doing it. It’s twitchy, tense, and weirdly catchy, getting under your skin more with every listen. This is a record built for chaos, and it’ll absolutely destroy live. As far as left turns go, this one feels like the right move—tight, noisy, and totally alive. Wherever they head next, don’t expect them to stay still.
FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS HISTORY
Data Doom (2023) / Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters . . . (2020) / ZAM (2019) / Heavy Roller (2016) / Frankie And The Witch Fingers (2015)
FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS LINKS
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | The Reverberation Appreciation Society | Greenway Records
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