World/Inferno Friendship Society

So, if we're looking at me as a person, we're also looking at my interests. I'm not sure if it's autism or just a quirk of character, but not only do I get very much into my interests, I also think about what they might mean about me.

So, let's have a look at one of my favorite bands- World/Inferno Friendship Society.

They're a bit hard to describe, hence the immediate link. There's about 40 members, though few are regulars and there's only ever been one lead vocalist. In practice, they're really more of a gang or anarchist commune than a band. Stylistically, they're what would happen if you handed a 1920s Berliner cabaret act a Greatest Punk Hits mixtape and let them have at it with a jazz orchestra. It's what a methhead punk rocker sings as he trashes his room at the Grand Budapest. It's a wacky blend of styles, and it works so well it might as well constitute a new genre.

From the oft radical lyrics, layered and nuanced sound, and lack of easy comparisons to other bands it's pretty easy to see why they aren't more widely known. Piano driven rhythmic dancepunk ballads about the Spanish Civil War aren't the sort of thing to find radio airplay, and the closest band I can think of stylistically, Kaizers Orchestra, comes from another continent, sings in Norwegian, and is considered part of the alternative scene, rather than the punk one.

Fuck, I don't even remember how I found them. They've just ascended to a place on my musical pantheon, and maybe they just appeared there one day. Well, whatever. Here's a song about the Spanish Civil War.