Trans Day of Revenge

TRANS DAY OF REVENGE
Knifes, lipstick and triangles of various colors (presumely broken glass) surround a skeleton head on the bottom. On the top, two hands with sharp red nails surround the text displaying the artist and album name.
EP by G.L.O.S.S.
Released June 13, 2016
Recorded August 2015
Studio Punkall
(Olympia, Washington)
Genre
Length 6:58
Label
  • Total Negativity[3]
  • Nervous Nelly[4]
  • PANSY TWIST distro[5]
  • Sabatoge[1]
Producer Joey Seward
G.L.O.S.S. chronology
DEMO
(2015)		 TRANS DAY OF REVENGE
(2016)

Trans Day of Revenge (stylized TRANS DAY OF REVENGE) is the second extended play of Olympia, Washington-based punk group G.L.O.S.S (Girls Living Outside Society's Shit). The album, produced by Joey Seward, was released a day after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, by the Total Negativity, Nervous Nelly, PANSY TWIST distro and Sabatoge labels. The album was noted by many music journalists as "necessary" and "essential" due to its message; the album is against pacifism towards issues such as state terrorism, hatred towards transgender people and respectability politics.

Composition

Lyrically, Trans Day of Revenge strongly criticizes people's pacifism towards state terrorism, hatred towards transgender people and respectability politics in the United States.[3] Pitchfork Media wrote that the lyrics have "sensitive detail that give them the occasional rhythm of poetry."[2] On the closing title track, several concepts are represented in only one verse, mainly with how the media and even people who are a part of gay communities negatively treat transgender people: "Remember those/Dead and gone/but don't let the media set us up for harm/HRC, selfish fucks/Yuppie gays threw us under the bus."[2]

The first few lines of the opening track, "Give Violence A Chance", are "When peace is just another word for death, it's our turn to give violence a chance!"[2] The song deals with how the amount of police brutality in society can lead to what Pitchfork Media described as "superstructures that determine who survives in America", lines including "Killer cops aren't crooked.../they do as they're told," and "Black lives don't matter in the eyes of the law."[2] The lyrics to "We Live" are about a person who shows the pride of being a transgender person and being able to successfully live in a society against transgender people. "We live with trauma locked inside / We fight against the urge to die."[6] On "Out From The Desk", the singer demands their listeners to attack: "Bent ears/Can't be enough/Out from the desk/Let's all crew up/Boot the fucker!”[7] A Spin magazine critic wrote that the last line in the title song, "Not as weak as we seem", "show the folly in underestimating the resolve of people who fight every day just to stay alive."[6]

Trans Day of Revenge is a d-beat[1] and boston hardcore album.[2] Pitchfork Media analysized that "G.L.O.S.S.'s songs tend to feel both old and new, the past and the present occurring simultaneously, layered on top of each other so they produce an interesting dissonance located somewhere between noise and precision."[2] Another major contributor to the quality of the tracks, also according to Pitchfork, is the guitar lines that "resemble columns toppling," especially on "Fight" where the riffs cause the song to feel like it will "melt down into shapelessness."[2]

Production and release

The track "Give Violence a Chance" was first released as part of the compilation album NNT∞ Not Normal Presents... Hardcore by the label Not Normal Tapes; the compilation was issued on December 22, 2015.[8] When reviewing "Give Violence a Chance" for Pitchfork Media, Nina Mashurova awarded the track the label of "Best New Track".[9] Trans Day of Revenge was released worldwide via the group's Bandcamp page on June 13, 2016,[1] a day after the shooting in the Orlando, Florida-based gay bar Pulse.[2] The release date for the EP was set and revealed on June 11, a day before the Orlando shooting.[10] Physical copies of the album were distributed in Boston, Massachusetts by Nervous Nelly Records,[3] Olympia, Washington by Total Negativity Records,[3] Canada by PANSY TWIST distro,[5] and other territories by Sabtoge Records.[1] The album was dedicated in memory of Adan Parker (July 11, 1990 – November 10, 2015), a punk musician who, according to his obituary in Alaska Dispatch News, "believed deeply in social justice, was extremely principled and lived true to his strong personal values."[1][11]

Critical reception

Trans Day of Revenge garnered acclaim from both music journalists and listeners upon its release; many critics found it "essential" and "necessary" due to its message of taking violent measures instead of praying for peace.[6][10][12][13][14] Brad Nelson, writing a review for Pitchfork Media, scored the album an 8.6 out of ten. He assumed the album could significantly impact the culture of hardcore music and society in the future. He praised how the lyrics presented the record's message, writing that the group was "embedding politically complex ideas in emotionally unambiguous music without it flattening into a wave of rhetoric."[2] Seattle Weekly critic Kelton Sears wrote the album's message of fighting to save lives was unique, given that "Much of today's punk, especially on a local level, has devolved into apathetic three-chord songs about pizza, beer, and the glories of being a screw-up."[7] Jessica Hopper of MTV News wrote, "For all the (old) folks forever lamenting that contemporary punk doesn’t have any meaning, or doesn’t have anything to be angry about, “Trans Day of Revenge” is a dialogue-squashing rebuttal — though not sure G.L.O.S.S. has dialogue on the agenda".[15]

Track listing

TRANS DAY OF REVENGE – Standard version[1]
No. Title Length
1. "Give Violence A Chance"   1:54
2. "Out From The Desk"   1:00
3. "Fight"   1:04
4. "We Live"   1:15
5. "Trans Day Of Revenge"   1:45
Total length:
 6:58

Credits and personnel

Credits from the official Bandcamp page for G.L.O.S.S.[1]

Location
Credits

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "TRANS DAY OF REVENGE". G.L.O.S.S Official Bandcamp Page. Archived from the original on June 14, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Nelson, Brad (June 24, 2016). "G.L.O.S.S.: Trans Day of Revenge". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "G.L.O.S.S. "Trans Day of Revenge" 7"". Total Negativity Records Official Website. Archived from the original on June 28, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  4. ↑ "NNR010 – G.L.O.S.S. "Trans Day of Revenge" 7"". Nervous Nelly Records Official Website. Archived from the original on June 28, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "PRE-ORDER: G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge 7" $7.00". PANSY TWIST distro Official Website. Archived from the original on June 28, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Sackllah, David (June 20, 2016). "Review: G.L.O.S.S.' 'Trans Day of Revenge' Is a Dish Best Served Fast". Spin. SpinMedia. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Sears, Kelton (June 24, 2016). "G.L.O.S.S.' New Record, 'Trans Day of Revenge,' Is a Case for Righteous Queer Rage". Seattle Weekly. Sound Publishing. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  8. ↑ "NNT∞ Not Normal Presents... Hardcore". Not Normal Tapes Official Bandcamp Page. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ Mashurova, Nina (February 22, 2016). ""Give Violence a Chance" by G.L.O.S.S. Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Galil, Leor (June 15, 2016). "Queer hardcore group G.L.O.S.S. release Trans Day of Revenge just when we need it most". Chicago Reader. Wrapports, LLC. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Adan Parker (1990–2015)". Alaska Dispatch News. Alaska Dispatch, LLC. November 14, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  12. ↑ Davies, Rachel (June 15, 2016). "Queer Hardcore Band G.L.O.S.S. Release Trans Day Of Revenge EP In The Wake Of Orlando Shooting". Brooklyn Magazine. Northside Media Group. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  13. ↑ Trapunski, Richard (June 14, 2016). "NOW HEAR THIS: G.L.O.S.S.'s Trans Day of Revenge is 2016's most vital punk". Chart Attack. Channel Zero. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  14. ↑ Breihan, Tom (June 13, 2016). "Stream G.L.O.S.S. Trans Day Of Revenge EP". Stereogum. SpinMedia. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Hits and Misses: Kanye's Introspection, G.L.O.S.S.'s 'Trans Day of Revenge,' and Twenty One Pilots Go Reggae". MTV News. Viacom. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
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