American Culture

***Nothing is more American than the flawed idealism of rugged individualism, but any ruggedness you see in Denver's AMERICAN CULTURE only comes from years of touring, living in a GMC van, lugging that bass cab down another steep DIY basement staircase. This is DIY music. But it isn't alone. It's a culture, a community. One that American Culture and so many of their peers have nurtured, town after town, basement after basement, selling one record at a time not to "fans" but to friends. American Culture's third album For My Animals was finished pre-COVID and sent to us at HHBTM Records around early March 2020. 'For My Animals' isn't strict about genre. Like their favorites, The Meat Puppets, Crass, The Grateful Dead, The Feelies, this band does whatever they feel. There's bits of noise-pop, outsider lo-fi, washes of psychedelia and even hints of Jamaican dub influence here. It's definitely punk. Punk but not rock. This album seems to be set in a different era. A time when people didn't have much to do but chill at the mall. You made new friends by maybe seeing a Dead Milkmen tattoo peeking out from under a sleeve, or 'Sonic Youth' scrawled in sharpie on the rubber toe of their converse. You didn't know each other, but, also, somehow, you did. Same with this album.