Our Brand Could Be Yr Life (2024 BODEGA album)

BODEGA Joyfully Mocks Mechanized Consumer Culture in the Pop Post-Punk of “ATM”

BODEGA, photo courtesy the artists

Brooklyn’s BODEGA free associate the concepts of convenience, transactional relationships and culture on “ATM.” The animated video is playful enough in what looks like an older art style like something from an early 2000s web cartoon which fits the almost tribal rhythms of the song. The overall effect is like Killing Joke or Gang of Four indulging in a bit of pop punk whimsy. But the lyrics are incisive in sussing out how in all transactional relationships and the way capitalism has been baked into how we interface with much of the world and the culture and thus into at least some aspect of our psyches reducing organic and not-digital associations to those more monetizable and to think in that way. It’s insidious and BODEGA pokes fun at this aspect of our lives because you have to point out the absurdity of it all at least once in awhile or you end up, and pardon the expression, buying into the conceit that all things are economic acts in the classical “liberal” mode. In mocking how a-human it is, and with clever wordplay including juxtaposing the phrase “at the moment” (often reduced to “atm” in text speak) with the familiar cash dispensing machine, BODEGA shows us yet another way to hold onto our humanity and dignity because in many ways it’s all we’ve got. Watch the video for “ATM” on YouTube and follow BODEGA at the links below. The group’s recently released album Our Brand Could Be Yr Life is out now on streaming, digital download and vinyl.

BODEGA on TikTok

BODEGA on Instagram

BODEGA Pokes Fun at Hyper Consumerist Culture on Playful New Wave Post-Punk Single “Cultural Consumer III”

BODEGA, photo courtesy the artists

BODEGA channel a bit of early 2000s New York post-punk revival sound in “Cultural Consumer III” with the minimal guitar work in a power pop style and a nervy urgency in the pace of the song. The music video looks like something that was filmed on VHS and shared on a cable access show in the 90s with wonderfully low budget production values of the band riding in a car through the night looking like a roller coaster cart. But it’s BODEGA so of course there’s more than the surface level in the lyrics and the meta-commentary about how many people, often ourselves, consume culture like it’s throwaway while participating in consumer culture because there are few authentic choices in late capitalism. The songwriting is reminiscent of the plasticity of early 80s New Wave which often also had pointed things to say about that era of alienation of the “greed is good” decade but the hooks are genuine and the song makes the ride through the harrowing modern times seem at least survivable though the cheesy explosion at the end of the song is a bit cheeky in the best way. It’s part of a loose trilogy on the band’s new album Our Brand Could Be YR Life (Michael Azerrad and the Minutemen should be proud) which is filled with the usual surreal and self-aware lyrics and avant-pop leanings and out now on limited edition LP, CD, digital download and streaming. Watch the video for “Cultural Consumer III” on YouTube and follow Brooklyn’s BODEGA at the links below.

BODEGA on TikTok

BODEGA on Instagram

BODEGA’s Psychedelic Power Pop Art Punk Single “Tarkovski” is a Spirited Song About Breaking the Rules

BODEGA, photo from Bandcamp

“Tarkovski” is the lead single from BODEGA’s forthcoming album Our Brand Could Be Yr Life (due April 12, 2024 via Chrysalis Records). Of course the title is a reference to the great Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsy but also snow skiing. Guitarist and vocalist Ben Hozie noted that he was taken by Tarkovsky’s book Sculpting in Time and its rules and guidelines for filmmaking often broken by Tarkovsky in actual practice even while those principles are still useful. It’s a testament to how art is actually made and how any actually interesting artist has to reconcile inspiration and intuition with concepts and technique without being strictly limited by any of it. As the band has been playing the song live it has improvised the middle section with words selection considering their efficacy as a sound in the music more than the literal meaning. The song engages in a bit of genre and style time traveling as well with strong melodies in a fashion reminiscent of 1980s power pop and New Wave. The middle instrumental section sounds a bit like what might have happened if The Replacements did a cheeky, off the cuff tribute to both The Velvet Underground and The Clean with hypnotic, noisy, inexplicably beautiful and moving riffs. BODEGA as always finds a way to make a catchy song that goes off center into unpredictable territory and brings you along for the ride even if the person addressed in the song doesn’t really want to go on that ride despite asking to be taken to the zone whether as a deft reference to Tarkovsky’s deeply existential 1979 masterpiece Stalker and in the more cosmic sense or being in the area and headspace where the action happens or both. It’s a promising peek into the art punk heights BODEGA will take us to when the new record drops just over a week after Tarkovsky’s April 4 birthday. Watch the video for “Tarkovski,” a visual and thematic nod to the films of the director in a fog enshrouded forest, on YouTube and follow BODEGA at the links below.