Protomartyr – Under Color Of Official Right (Hardly Art)

Protomartyr – Under Color Of Official Right (Hardly Art)

There is deadpan humor all over Under Color Of Official Right, but only as a way to cope with the bleakness. In that way, Protomartyr has offered up a quintessential post-punk album. Here’s another way: The album plays like a skewed remembrance of punk-rock’s artsy side, not reflecting the members’ record collections so much as refracting them. I can’t figure out if it sounds like a vibrant cityscape decaying or a dead cityscape coming back to life. –Chris [LISTEN]