This five-piece wed ramshackle rant-punk to deadpan, slackerish tunes to nail the absurdity of contemporary life. Like an LCD Soundsystem that never went clubbing, or a Parquet Courts whose eyebrows arch vertiginously high, this debut finds Bodega veering between satire and indignation. "This machine you know it don't kill fascists," sings Ben Hozie on How Did This Happen?! "This machine you know is just a guitar." The band's other singer, Nikki Belfiglio, takes the lead on Gyrate, a riot grrrl-ish ramalama about female masturbation. Few songs exceed the three-minute mark, and throughout, the band pepper the gaps between songs with digital-era apercus, such as: "I use my computer for everything. Heaven knows I'm miserable now." You could quote them all day.
- Kitty Empire/Guardian News and Media
