Most musical artists I remember how I first came to know of them, especially those I like. I cannot remember how I first came to listen to MSPaint, but I’m glad I did. This album has been playing nonstop since I discovered it. And I’m itching to see them live. Based on the release, I can only imagine what they are like live.

MSPaint are an electric 4-piece band from the unlikely city of Hattiesburg, MS. Their sound is hard to pinpoint, and that’s ok. I like that about bands sometimes, those that are just all over the place. That’s MSPaint. To add to their sound, they don’t have a guitarist, It’a singer, drummer, bassist, and synth.  I have seen art-punk, hardcore, and alt-rock. To me, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, just know this is a band to watch. 

Upon first listen I got AKAs, Amen, and Refused vibes from them. Based on that alone, that should be enough for some folks to give them a listen. MsPaint wasted no time getting to it, the first song, “Information” on their debut album, Post-American, is a furious number. As I mentioned above, I want to see them live and this song is one of the many reasons. When I hear it I can see a monster pit, people going crazy, and their singer becoming unhinged. I picture chaos when I listen to it. If you are local to Columbus, when I hear this I can see them laying waste to Donatos Basement or Dirty Dungarees. This level of intensity is present throughout the album. The next track, “Think it Through “continues that level of intensity. From this point on, it just stays. They don’t let up. Every song is turned up to eleven, and I’m here for it. The one song that gets stuck in my head that I’ll just start singing at random times is “Hardwire”. There is something about a catchy harder song I guess as the chorus goes, this song is “hardwired to my brain”.  Another standout track is “Delete It” This track has guest vocals from Ian Shelton of Militarie Gun, another up-and-coming band. He also co-produced the album.  Speaking of guest vocals, Pierce Jordan of Soul Glo shows up on “Decapitated Reality”.  He knocks it out of the park, but it’s Pierce Jordan, what do you expect? One of my favorite tracks is the title track, “Post-American”. It’s exactly what the title says, it’s about a Post America after some kind of incident. The aspect that I like about this song is that his words make it easy to picture what he is singing about. When I listen to this track, I can see an America in which he is singing about, I can see the empty beaches, the power plants that no longer are in use, and I can see people hiding. He paints a  good picture with his words.

This is a really good album. It’s a nice introduction to a good band. If you ask me, they should be mentioned in the same breath as Zulu, Turnstile, and any other upcoming hardcore/alt band. These guys are good. This album is good.