 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Perfect Pussy" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Perfect Pussy | |
|---|---|
 Perfect Pussy performing atTreefort Music Fest in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Noise rock,hardcore punk,lo-fi |
| Years active | 2012 (2012)–2016 |
| Labels | Captured Tracks |
| Past members |
|
| Website | prrfectpussy |
Perfect Pussy was an Americanrock band fromSyracuse, New York. The band consisted of vocalistMeredith Graves, guitarist Ray McAndrew, drummer Garrett Koloski,bass guitarist Greg Ambler and keyboardist Shaun Sutkus. The band was known for its "frenetic brand ofpunk and raucous live shows"[1] and has been described as "the most important punk band to come out of Syracuse sinceEarth Crisis."[2]
Prior to the formation of the band, the lead singer Meredith Graves performed folk music under the name Mouse and the Love & Light Orkestra,[3] then subsequently was a member of the Syracuse-based noise rock trio Shoppers.
After Shoppers broke up, film directorScott Coffey approached Graves, asking her to perform with a band for his 2012 movie,Adult World. She assembled a "fake band," consisting of her, drummer Garrett Koloski of the rock band Sswampzz and bass guitarist Greg Ambler of SoreXcuse, and wrote the song for the film. In the aftermath of the filming, they kept performing together and were joined by Sswampzz guitarist Ray McAndrew and keyboardist Shaun Sutkus.[4][5]
The band gained attention with its debut demo, a 13-minute EP calledI Have Lost All Desire for Feeling, which was released independently in 2013.[6] Reviewing the EP forRolling Stone, Jon Dolan said "Punk-rock revelations like Perfect Pussy don't come along nearly often enough," and described their work as "the uncut truth of music that won't hold anything back."[7]Pitchfork namedI Have Lost All Desire for Feeling as an honorable mention on its list of the best albums of 2013, with criticLindsay Zoladz saying "EP feels like the sustained climax of a horror movie, the aural equivalent of that moment when the heroine—tattered, bleeding, and suddenly superhumanly defiant—drives the devil out and is engulfed in a radioactive glow."[8]
Perfect Pussy performed inCMJ music festival in 2013[5] and inSXSW in 2014,[9] after signing to theBrooklyn-basedCaptured Tracks record label.
The band's eight-song, 23-minute debut albumSay Yes to Love was released on March 18, 2014, on Captured Tracks to predominantly enthusiastic reviews.[2] Zoladz rated the album an 8.6 onPitchfork's 10-point scale and a "Best New Music" designation, saying "It doesn't feel corny or hyperbolic to call this record life-affirming, so perfectly does it capture the flashes of gratitude, self-knowledge, and inexplicable joy that often follow an experience of great pain."[10] AtRolling Stone,Rob Sheffield gave the album four of five stars, calling it a "a savagely awesome debut" and "a heart-punch of an album" he compares toHüsker Dü and earlySleater-Kinney.[11] AtThe A.V. Club, David Anthony describesSay Yes to Love as "continu[ing] the raging aggression of [Perfect Pussy's] demo [I Have Lost All Desire for Feeling] while also trying to remove itself fromhardcore's oft-limiting structures," but argues that some of these departures have "Perfect Pussy getting out ahead of itself, suggesting the band would be better served securing an identity before attempting to redefine it."[12]
The group disbanded in January 2016 after attempts to record a second album collapsed.[13] Graves became an anchor forMTV News and Koloski formed a new band, based in Philadelphia, calledEmpath[13] whose first album was produced by Sutkus.
| Year | Title | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Say Yes to Love | Captured Tracks | 12-inch vinyl LP / CD / MP3 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
