The Ergs’ Blitzkrieg Bops

jharv | July 23, 2007 2:00 am
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Just in case you were worried that the departure of the old boss meant that Idolator’s commitment to three-minute power-pop-punk songs has now been completely supplanted by a lot of “crazy” “ethnic” music and L.A. Guns b-sides and teenpop (R.I.P. Leslie Carter’s career), let it be known that I, too, have a closet full of Bouncing Souls albums and Lookout! Records seven-inches and mixtapes with J Church songs on them. Which is why I love New Jersey’s the Ergs, a nerdtacular trio who sound (and dress) like the mid-’90s never ended. With the exception of Jay Reatard (who exists on his own reatarded plane), they’re making the best scratchy, slightly sloppy, fairly stupid, three-chord (at most), three-minute (at most) pop-punk tunes of the last few years. (Think church basement and VFW hall pop-punk, not ready-for-their-closeup Warped Tour pop-punk.) The Ergs’ songs are largely about girls–because there are some traditions, stretching back to at least the Buzzcocks, that you probably just shouldn’t screw with–and “we can watch TV and maybe listen to some Husker Du” pretty much describes my ideal date circa 1994. There are a clutch of mp3s to download at their Web site and you can listen to some others at their MySpace page. Then perhaps break out those stinky-ass Chuck Taylors and catch them at an all-ages watering hole near you this summer.

The Ergs [MySpace]