Mandy, Indiana – “Bottle Episode”

Mandy, Indiana – “Bottle Episode”

Mandy, Indiana used to be called Gary, Indiana, a reference to the depressed Chicago-area town that gave us the Jackson family and Freddie Gibbs. Both the Mandy and Gary versions of the name are delightful to me, as is the noise-bombed, dancefloor-ready industrial post-punk found on the group’s new EP.

Despite the band name, Mandy, Indiana do not hail from the American Midwest. They’re Mancunians, and their music taps into Manchester’s long history of crossbreeding underground rock and dance scenes. More than anything, though, it sounds the way I imagine Brooklyn warehouse parties in the 2000s and early 2010s sounded — like Black Dice and Gang Gang Dance and Factory Floor and whatnot. I’m not sure if their EP’s title is an intentional nod to !!!, but could definitely be interpreted as a cooler, more detached version of that band’s dance-punk aesthetic. They also claim the influence of transgressive filmmakers Gaspar Noe and Leos Carax, so there’s that.

As of this week, four of the EP’s five tracks are out. It begins with the freshly released “Bottle Episode” — which has a bit of that tribal-drums-at-the-soccer-stadium vibe from Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead” — and continues with 2021 singles “Nike Of Samothrace” and “Alien 3.” Two remixes round out the tracklist, Daniel Avery’s take on “Alien 3” and Club Eat’s spin on “Nike Of Samothrace.”

Below, check out all four of the presently available songs.

Vocalist and lyricist Valentine Caulfield shared this comment on “Bottle Episode”:

I wanted to build up on the military style of the track, but in a very slow crescendo, and not in a very obvious way. The lyrics talk of men waiting, moving forward; war is never mentioned, yet it is obvious that the men are waiting for death. The song ends with the men almost dancing as the bullets hit them.

The EP is out 11/19 on Fire Talk and can be pre-ordered here.

Holly Whitaker

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