Tenement “The Self-Titled Album” 2016. Forward Records/Deranged Records. Tomorrow we’re heading up to Appleton, Tenement’s (and my) hometown for the Mile of Music Festival for four days of non-stop performances. Tenement is not playing this year but we caught them last year (and I picked up this record and am now, finally, giving it a spin). (Photo of their performance last August at Emmett’s outdoor stage, the band had doubled in size from when The Self-Titled Album was recorded)

Tenement is described by online articles as either punk, fuzz punk, pop punk or noise pop (they were even included in a 2016 list of the 10 Great Modern Punk Bands by Rolling Stone) but I really don’t think any of the descriptions fit, or at least not this album (those descriptions DO fit their first release, Napalm Dream from 2011 on Mandible Records). When I wrote about them last year as part of the Mile of Music experience, I described one of the songs they played as “a Velvet Undergroundy freak out sonic assault that lasted about 15 minutes.” That description also does not fit The Self-Titled Album. Rather it’s got an alt-rock, laid-back vibe that recalls to my ears the Milwaukee band Space Raft: catchy, sunny, chill, melodic with some fuzzy rough edges. You can decide for yourself by listening to the entire record here.