Playing out steadily since 2003, STNNNG (pronounced “stunning”) have earned their reputation as an endorphin rush of a live act. But beneath the apparent anarchy, the Minneapolis quintet keep honing their bed-of-knives sound, and the material on their most recent full-length, Fake Fake (Modern Radio)–recorded in Chicago last year with Mike Lust–shows the benefits of discipline. On these ten tight tracks I can hear the Fall’s crackpot articulation, U.S. Maple’s taunting zigzags, and the punishing rhythmic efficiency of Big Black, all integrated into an unrelenting war cry that seems like something dazzlingly new, although really it isn’t. The twists and turns come at you fast and leave you reeling, with no recovery time before you’re sucked into the vortex of the next song. By the end you feel as though you’ve been whipped by a pagan god and loved it. –Monica Kendrick
