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Apr 23, 2025 Web Exclusive By Mark Moody

If turnabout is fair play, then The Convenience is the fairest band in the land. On Like Cartoon Vampires, the New Orleans-based duo of Nick Corson and Duncan Troast do a complete 180 from their 2021 debut, Accelerator. On the earlier album, Corson and Troast proved out that there are limits in modeling yourself as a Prince copy band. With that stage thankfully behind them, The Convenience take on a broad scale assault of the post-punk genre. With a much more diverse field to mine, the duo salute influences from ’80s era The Fall up to mid-2000s Spoon with equally appealing results.

The sinister backbeat and guitar sizzle of the opening “I Got Exactly What I Wanted” frame a pointedly desperate copping of Britt Daniel levels of angst. “Well my position is nothing, I’ve come for your car,” appropriately tilts more repo man than courtesy valet. And when consumerism is in their sights, The Fall’s Mark E. Smith is invoked on “Target Offer” and the swingier “Western Pepsi Cola Town.” The careening guitar lines and shifting rhythms of “Dub Vultures” make it the best and most original sounding song here.

Not above some more blatant experimentalism (particularly given several songs’ short running times), the duo comes up with mixed results. The ebb and flow synth gyrations of “Café Style 4” get a little grating in under two minutes. But much more successful are the out of phase “Pray’r” and the spoken word “Rats,” which feels a spot on tribute to Minutemen’s own off-handed “Take 5, D.” Better still is the 10-minute closer, “Fake the Feeling,” which grinds in places, but is deliciously atonal throughout.
Though veterans of some other outfits, two albums in with The Convenience it’s anyone’s guess where the duo may venture next. Given the quality of what’s on offer on Like Cartoon Vampires, the change in direction this time out suited them well. If they didn’t share a Spotify page, you would swear this was a different band from their prior outing. Corson and Troast may wear their influences on their collective sleeves, but there are lots of references to the best of the post-punk legends, which makes the album a pleasure to listen to. (www.theconvenience.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 7/10