Pop. 1280 debuted with the minimal noise rock single “Bedbugs” almost exactlylike the noise rock of Love American Style by The Honeymoon Killers. The Grid (Sacred Bones, 2010) is noise rock in the vein of the 80s no wave, early Sonic Youth in particular.
The Horror is another noise rock album that owes as much to the New York no wavers as it does to 80s and 90s hardcore, 2000s noise rock of bands like Wildildlife, and the early 60s commercial dance crazes. “Burn the Worms” is basically “Surfin’ Bird” played with a simple noise rock guitar and tribal drumming: The Cramps, though without the charisma of Lux Interior’s voice. “Nature Boy” is a slow dance for the dead and dying. “West World” is a zombie dance for the post-Cramps world.
Philosophically, Pop.1280 is closest to the Cramps but without the exuberance of Lux Interior’s voice or twisted stories: what made the Cramps one of the greatest bands and not just a band playing horribly at the same time in the same place. Sonically, Pop. 1280 is closest to The Honeymoon Killers, sometimes going right up to the edge of their aggression but most of the time holding back leaving the guitar to be the main incendiary device.
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