6th February 2023
Christopher Nosnibor
I miss 2005. It might sound crass or lame, but I really do. Sure, I miss being in my twenties, and I miss not having the responsibilities I have now and I miss still studying and I miss being as alert and edgy, but more than anything I miss the sense of life and future that 2005 offered. Musically, it was a good – exciting – time with a new wave of post-punk influenced bands coming through. Interpol dropped Antics in 2004 and Editors began to break in 2005, and there was a real groundswell of excitement around the new-wave renaissance as spearheaded by bands who really channelled a certain Joy Division-inspired darkness.
With ‘Drive By Argument’, Real Teeth capture that spring of excitement, but without sounding nostalgic. It may seem a contradiction, but then, that was how it was in 2005, too. The emerging bands drew on the past, but didn’t sound like they were trying to recreate it. And the same is true of Real Teeth.
The single is accompanied by ‘a collage video from short clips of dash-cam footage of London from 1999’, and that’s probably more nostalgia-laden than the song itself.
But, propelled by a rhythm that’s packed with stuttering fills, a groove-driven bass and choppy guitars, it’s got a lot going on, with nods to Radio 4 and Gang of Four thrust to the fore in what is a busy and multi-layered cut. With a vital energy and dynamism, not to mention some well-placed changes in tempo and tone, ‘Drive By Argument’ is straightforward on the surface but has more going on underneath, and is worth taking some time to chew on.
AA
Aural Aggravation 