{"id":147962,"date":"2026-03-25T12:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147962\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T12:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:18:15","slug":"album-review-the-messthetics-and-james-brandon-lewis-deface-the-currency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147962\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review \/\/ The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis \/\/ Deface The Currency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                    \t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eriereader.com\/image\/scale\/auto\/auto\/articles\/848787_album-messthetics.jpg\" class=\"lightbox_img\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/848787_album-messthetics.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Impulse! Records<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">5\/5 stars<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">An ultrasonic landscape with the unlikely pairing of punk and jazz creates the unique sound that is the Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis. On Deface The Currency, the four-piece combines these two outsider genres and proves that they belong together more than previously thought. The rhythm section was previously part of the D.C. area indie-punk band Fugazi, known for their DIY ethos and political stances. That Fugazi groove shines through on tracks like\u00a0 &#8220;Gestations&#8221; and &#8220;Clutch.&#8221; Guitarist Anthony Pirog is the perfect fit, acting as a conduit between punk and jazz \u2013 in this instrumental band, his playing is forward-facing when the saxophone isn&#8217;t taking the lead. The Messthetics started as a three-piece and released two albums that way, until they paired up with jazz saxophonist James Brandon Lewis for their first album together in 2024, after a successful tour (where they made a stop in Erie). The jazz is still present on tracks &#8220;30 Years of Knowing&#8221; and &#8220;Rules of The Game,&#8221; while they enter no wave territory, akin to the sound of Sonic Youth on the songs &#8220;Universal Security&#8221; and the blistering final track &#8220;Serpent Tongue (Slight Return).&#8221; The album is a great example of what The Messthetics sound like live, with the same raw intensity and technical prowess. Thankfully they are returning to Erie on <a href=\"https:\/\/tickets.eriereader.com\/events\/the-messthetics-and-james-brandon-lewis-5-3-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sunday, May 3 at Centennial Hall,<\/a> where fans can pick up this fantastic album and experience the performance for themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Impulse! Records 5\/5 stars An ultrasonic landscape with the unlikely pairing of punk and jazz creates the unique&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[10385,67439,136,138,137,67438,67437],"class_list":["post-147962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-album-review","tag-deface-the-currency","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-james-brandon-lewis","tag-the-messthetics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}