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The A Frames’ tunefully cacophonous blend of primitive drumming, thuggish bass lines and discordant, blues-tinged guitars owes an enormous debt to Nick Cave’s old band, the Birthday Party. But where that combo was preoccupied with sin and self-destruction, and took itself terribly seriously, this Seattle-based trio’s own dystopian vision is at once more universal and leavened with humor. Guitarist Erin Sullivan delivers bleak lyrics about life and death after a nuclear holocaust in robotic cadences; the effect is of a black joke told with a very straight face.
