This Is Teen-C Power! - EP

Album Review

A six-song compilation of early singles by the Glasgow-based teenage trio Bis, This Is Teen-C Power! is both the group's U.S. debut and the best distillation of their anarchic early style. Singer Manda Rin's voice is at its most uncontrolled here, yelping and squalling like a younger and hyper-caffeinated Nina Hagen, while brothers John Disco and Sci-Fi Steven create noisy punk-dance-indie thrash out of beats, samples, and noisy guitars. It's a mildy uneven collection; "School Disco" and "Burn the Suit" are nothing special, but the anthemic, sloganeering "Teen-C Power!" and "Kandy Pop" or the sneering "Kill Yr Boyfriend" and (especially) "This Is Fake D.I.Y." are among the best tracks Bis have ever done. The follow-up full-length The New Transistor Heroes showed that this rather restrictive style has a somewhat limited utility, but This Is Teen-C Power! shows off the best of Bis' early incarnation.