It’s no secret that lo-fi and noisy is all the rage with the kids these days. The rich sounds bands like The Arcade Fire, Explosions in the Sky, I’m From Barcelona, et al. seem to have fallen out of favor in lieu of the gruff, and dissonant compositions of bands like Wavves and Times New Viking (hell even Yo La Tengo is in on it). Bands are dusting off their early post-punk (copies of C86 and Flying Nun Records specifically), and gleaning influences like never before. You could chalk up Let’s Wrestle into that school, but if they are there, then they are the kid making the snide, cynical remarks from the back of the class.

Their sound is more The Clean than Black Tamborine, and it deliver hooks that prevents the dissonance from making them a Collisoin Time Revisited imitator. The lo-fi art-punk/pop manages to balance the desire to be catchy with the ability to say “piss-off” I’m going to do what I want, which is really what makes it such a great record.

In Loving Memory of… is out now on Stolen Recordings, and you can buy it and some other band merch from Rough Trade .

MP3: Let’s Wrestle – Music Is My Girlfriend

MP3: Let’s Wrestle – I Won’t Lie To You