Punks On Mars

Ryan Howe drives Punks on Mars, his "glitterpunk" outlet, after logging time in like-minded lo-fi pop groups including Greatest Hits, his cyborg-surf vehicle Luke Perry, and the experimental electronic pair dANA. Gleaming, infectious blends of 1960s British Invasion, 1970s punk and glam, 1980s power pop, and 1990s lo-fi textures, laced with liberal campy sci-fi imagery, defined the project when it surfaced in May 2011 on the Madame Tussaud Overdrive 7", which carried a version of "Shout Your Lungs Out" by the Beets from the 1990s Nickelodeon series Doug. That July, Howe issued the self-titled debut album on his Ratgum imprint, balancing interstellar atmospheric cuts with effervescent pop numbers. He resurfaced early in 2012 with the incisive Hey! Tiffany single, followed in July by People Talk, Punks on Mars' sleekest recording to date, a direction sustained on Bad Expectations, which surfaced that October.