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The Bakelite Age are just the type of band today’s genre-obsessed contemporary rock scene needs. Is the Australian quartet a garage band? A psychedelic act? A noisy indie band? The answer is, of course, all of the above. On its third LP Flytrap the group moves smoothly and deftly from fuzz-encrusted acid pop (“A Childhood Problem,” “Music to Die For”) to dissonant postpunk rants (“I Can Make Fire,” “World’s Most Deadly Creatures”) to grungy punk & roll (“Defcon 1,” “Hollywood Lied”), with no consciousness of any difference. As well there isn’t, in this capable band’s hands – by the end of the record and tracks like “On the Fly” and “Where the Bowie Knife is Thrown,” the Age is mixing and matching licks, melodies and sound effects to the extent that it defies genre. The band then tops off the record with “Epic Theatre,” a synth-driven piece of faux soundtrack pomp that’s like nothing that’s come before it. There’s no calculation involved here – the guys just strap on their instruments and play whatever comes out of their collective imagination. Australian musicians have long blurred any pre-conceived notions of genre, and in that respect the Bakelite Age is upholding a proud and noble tradition.
