Most neo-grunge sounds pretty derivative. Pennsylvania’s Pissed Jeans, however, aren’t updating the 90s so much as peddling ear-curdling sludge laced with punk misanthropy, the kind of witty filth that can’t help but compare favourably with Sub Pop’s prime. Why Love Now, PJ’s fifth, is a surprisingly tuneful deconstruction of themes as varied as cancer (Waiting on My Horrible Warning), the modern workplace (“singer” Matt Korvette is an insurance adjuster) and male assholery that swings between scary and hilarious. Fans will recognise these hang-upsfrom previous outings, but Pissed Jeans are innovating a little – The Bar Is Low could be Queens of the Stone Age fronted by David Yow. Mid-album, they hand a song (I’m a Man) to author Lindsay Hunter to fill with smutty office superior double entendres (“You take dictation?”).
