NWR&P [8'] (SQUARE-SHAPED VINYL, DOWNLOAD, PACKAGED IN AN ENVELOPE THAT RESEMBLES AN FBI CASE FILE, LIMITED TO 500, INDIE-RETAIL EXCLUSIVE) (RSD 2018)

PUBLIC SQUARES ... is this an art project in the vein of their fellow Ohioan predecessors DEVO' Is this some sort of mental delusion by three musicians with a collective resume that includes SIDECAR, LIVING STEREO and even hardcore legends INTEGRITY' Or have alien beings really inhabited human bodies for the purpose of saving Earth by giving rock and roll music a much needed shot in the arm'?What we do know for sure is that PUBLIC SQUARES have created a sound that is too fresh to use any existing label to describe, so it needed its own ... NEW WAVE RHYTHM & PUNK (NWR&P).?Subtle use of synthesizers and ambient noises hint at DEVO and GARY NUMAN, without sounding like yet another cliche retro knock-off. The infectious chorus of power-pop-would-be-radio-hit Modern Medicine sounds a bit like ELVIS COSTELLO singing for CHEAP TRICK. The track Go Medium starts off like a hybrid of 60's mod/soul and the angular rhythms of GANG OF FOUR, with an anthemic ending that pounds and repeats its refrain. Tomorrow's Dream is a BLACK SABBATH cover that alone will have people talking about this record.?All this is wrapped up in an aesthetic that looks as if characters from a 60's sci-fi movie like This Island Earth or The Day The Earth Stood Still leapt off the screen and on to a stage ... it's like seeing THE MISFITS when they were still DIY, but instead of horror movies and comic books, it's aliens and conspiracy theories. The band's ever growing count of Instagram followers is proof that there's as much to be seen as there is heard from PUBLIC SQUARES.?Recorded and mixed at their own Chateau Du Mal Voisin studio and mastered by Jason Livermore at the Blasting Room studio, owned by friend and supporter of the band Bill Stevenson of DESCENDENTS / ALL / BLACK FLAG fame. Bill described PUBLIC SQUARES as a band we would have played with in L.A. in 1980 and invited them to open for DESCENDENTS in 2017.?This debut vinyl release is pressed on a custom cut square 8 inch record - a record collector's dream - with a limited run of 500, packaged in an envelope that resembles an FBI case file ... included inside, a top secret FBI probe of the band's activities proving that they are being watched closely by the powers that be.??ON VINYL & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD:?1. Your Mental Illness Is Bumming Me Out?2. Modern Medicine?3. Go Medium?4. Tomorrow's Dream?5. I Know Lots of Humans?6. Please Don't Let Me Down