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Yardwork, Roomrunner, Speedy Ortiz, Serfs
ROOMRUNNER
Taking its name from the Japanese word for “treadmill,” Roomrunner resuscitates the sound of ’90s grunge. Battered Fender guitars churning squalls of feedback are present, as are two- and three-chord riffs. The riff is everything here, and Roomrunner’s grimy seismic wall of noise carries all before it. Not so much revivalists as resurrectionists, even Roomrunner’s bio — drummer of a well-regarded but defunct punk crew straps on a guitar to start a new noise band — recalls the arc from Nirvana to Foo Fighters. Roomrunner’s archival sound is the problem. Nirvana transcended grunge with pop-smart songwriting and reveled in ’80s art-rock roots that included the angular structures of Wire and the loud/soft/loud dynamics of The Pixies. Cobain and company aside, the bulk of grunge was self-limiting, combining the slashing squall of Northwest punks The Wipers at half-speed with early-’70s Vanilla Fudge-styled sludge, minus the luridly engaging psychedelia. Roomrunner goes off the grunge script a bit with funky time signatures and life-affirming lyrics, but the sound of Sea-Tac-without-the-smack is not enough. Grunge ground to a halt because it had nowhere to go, and Roomrunner doesn’t bring enough to the ear-bleeding party to take it out of its cul-de-sac.
— Pat Moran
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