Canberra band flit from dungeoncore to pop-punk on just-released double single Booty Smashers/ Hidden Cameras.
Pop punk, with its insistent hooks, bouncy rhythms, and emotionally direct lyrics, is a genre that captures the angsty, youthful spirit of rebellion and self-discovery, and in the hands of its finest practitioners, can transform the mundane and mundane into the ecstatic and transcendent, which Mr. Industry have nailed with perfect precision.
Today (March 17) sees the release of the genre-traversing double single Booty Smashers/ Hidden Cameras. The former track sees the Canberra-based five-piece ruminate on the media’s manipulation, atop clamorous production which the band described in a press statement as “not unlike being hit by a semi trailer driven by a coked up Josh Homme.”
Staying true to that descriptor, Booty Smashers dials up noisy instrumentation to levels previously unobserved on the decibel scale, complete with distorted spacey backing effects, monotone vocals and spoken-word dialogue. “I don’t see, I don’t mourn, I don’t feel the sun anymore I’m gone,” the band sings before bleeping effects make way for screamo-leaning vocals and a heavy instrumental break.
Booty Smashers concludes with a sonic cataclysm that gradually fades with hi-hats and whirring synths. Showcasing their versatility on fellow A-side track, Mr. Industry switch gears into pop-punk on Hidden Cameras, complete with melodic asides and funkier instrumentation. Where Booty Smashers might soundtrack a particularly impassioned exercise session, Hidden Cameras is better suited for a sunlit jog, without losing sight of Mr. Industry’s grungier tendencies.
Hidden Cameras opens with a dazzling drum sequence and guitar strums befitting a summer’s afternoon. Raspy vocals sing of “hold[ing] your head high” and “guid[ing] you through,” before an infectious hook begs to be sung along with at full volume. The diversity of the band’s two art punk singles serves as a reflection of Mr. Industry’s desire to be “as far from the status quo as possible while still making killer rock music,” they said in a statement.
Mr. Industry, who have previously described their music as “dungeoncore,” are relatively green in the music scene, having first formed in TAFE in 2021. The following year, the quintet shared their debut single March, and performed a string of shows throughout Canberra.
Booty Smashers/ Hidden Cameras serves as the first in a slew of material to be shared by the band in the coming months, with future releases scheduled for throughout 2023. Listen to Mr. Industry’s new double single Booty Smashers/ Hidden Cameras below.
