Chicago's Negative Scanner channels fierce post-punk through the commanding presence of vocalist/guitarist Rebecca Valeriano-Flores, refreshing the Wipers' and the Fall's signature blend of wit and outrage. Their raw, irreverent outbursts of vitriol, typified by the 2018 album Nose Picker, cut through the increasingly grim atmosphere of the late 2010s.
The group came together in 2012 shortly after Valeriano-Flores and drummer Tom Cassling's prior band Tyler Jon Tyler split up. Guitarist Matt Revers and bassist Nick Beaudoin rounded out the quartet, which quickly gained attention through intense live shows and early singles on Trouble in Mind ("Ambitious People") and Tall Pat Records ("Pastel Blue/Clinical White"). The self-titled debut was tracked in the band's own practice space, engineered by Chicago punk veteran Mike Lust and mastered by Mikey Young of Total Control and Eddy Current Suppression Ring; Trouble in Mind issued the album in July 2015. Cassling handled tracking duties for Nose Picker, another blunt and fiery collection once more captured at the practice space and mastered by Young.
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