STREET DAD (2002) by Out Hud on CD.
The early 2000s were the moment when indie kids figured out you could strap on a bass, plug in a sequencer, and still look cool on the dance floor. Out Hud were right there at the front—same Sacramento-to-NYC orbit as !!! and The Rapture—but they ended up releasing this gem on Kranky, a label otherwise known for drone and ambience.
This album is all groove, no chatter. Punk, funk, and dub rhythms locked down by Phyllis Forbes on drums, Nic Offer holding down bass (before !!! made him famous), and Molly Schnick’s cello cutting right through the synth haze. Pitchfork crowned it Best New Music with a 9.0. Spin called it a synth-pop idyll. Everyone heard something different—neo-disco, post-rock, even ABC-meets-A Flock of Seagulls. What mattered was the momentum: this thing actually moved.
When I first heard it, I thought this was the start of a revolution. That indie rock was finally going to dance for real. Instead, it was more of a blip—but what a blip. Even now, the long glide of “The L Train Is a Swell Train…” or the dub churn of “Too Much Information” sounds fresh, not frozen in 2002.
Picked this up for $2.99 at Audiopile. CD plays great. I remember DJs dropping this in sets—it always got knowing nods from the right heads. An underground relic that deserved to be much more.
