No One Gives a Fuck About Rock and Roll is the perfect post-punk song and the first one on Bendik’s Citizen. “It’s like jazz/It’s like folk/It’s like blues/ Like baroque ...” comes at the listener out from under a storm of guitar. For those with a taste of metal, Big Mouth Shooting Off is for you.
There are so many rock influences in this album, but also an organicity. It feels hugely authentic, tales of travels on the Lower East Side (and beyond). “Cemetery Hill samples my mom's old piano (over 100 years old),” is how Bendik described the mysterious forth song on the album. It sounds like an audio exorcism. “I sampled every note last year when I visited. I actually started working on that song at the time. The story in the song is true. Very harrowing thing. It's about someone very close to me. It is like an exorcism in more ways than one. That's my daughter Isabela's voice (taken from one of her performances). It all kind of came together. “
As authentic and post-punk as the album is, Bendik does give a fuck about rock and roll. It’s influence is everywhere — from Gallery Hopping to Got Lucky, from the lyrics delivered in a sneer to the speed of the guitar on Cardboard Man.
Citizen, the name of the album, and the sixth song on the album, is the most perfectly realized song, lyrically and sound-wise. Demolition Row is another standout. “The demolition sounds from Demolition Row are real. I just opened my window and recorded (then manipulated it via samples),” Bendik emails.
We highly recommend Citizen.
Citizen is soon to be available on all streaming services (Apple, Tidal, Youtube, Amazon, iTunes). It is presently available on Spotify.
Bendik will be performing Thursday, Feb. 8th at Sidewalk (6th st/Ave A) for the AntiFolk Festival.