Album Review: The Bug Club- On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System

I put “Bug Club Review” in a seach engine and these are some of the bands mentioned in some of the top results: Jonathan Richman, Violent Femmes, T Rex, Daniel Johnston, Moldy Peaches, the B-52s, the Modern Lovers , Cheekface, Dry Cleaning, Buzzcocks, AC/DC, The Fall, the Kinks, the Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Velvet Underground, Bach, Half Man Half Biscuit, Lovely Eggs, Dr Feelgood, Tiny Tim, the Guess Who, the Beatles and the Strokes. 

I agree most with the Northern Transmissions blog- Bug Club have one leg in the so called “crank wave” movement - the UK post punk movement inspired by the Fall that include Yard Act, Dry Cleaning and Sleaford Mods, but they also could fit in the nerd rock world of Cheekface, Ween, and They Might Be Giants. 

 I fell in love with “Green Dream in F#” the 2022 full-length that came after two EPs. I have to admit that I thought that could be it. Last year, they released “Rare Birds: Hour of Song” and a live record of material from Mr Anyway's Holey Spirits (a band who opened on tour for the Bug Club, but were in fact, the Bug Club themselves) Now signed to Sub Pop, new album On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System is quite enjoyable. 

Songs like “We Don't Care About That” and “Quality Pints” bring the same formula and energy as before. I don't know that the Sub Pop deal has much influence but I do like this album quite a bit which has a similar feel to their debut and adds a little bit more fuzz with some catchy songs which makes it one of the more fun albums you will hear all year.