The Pack AD

In 2008, the world discovered the Pack a.d., an unassuming Vancouver duo who reintroduced listeners to a blistering assault of scuffed, scarred bluesy riffs, pounding drums and unholy howls * rock *n* roll as it was meant to be played. Drummer Maya Miller and guitarist/vocalist Becky Black may have cut their teeth on the mean streets of East Vancouver, but their superb recordings Tintype and Funeral Mixtape (both released in 2008 on Mint Records) made it clear that these were no city-girl dilettantes: both of *em had something wild and wonderful running through their veins.

This spring, the Pack a.d. unleash we kill computers (Mint), a ragged, thundering wallop of an album that makes their earlier releases sound tame by comparison. Unshackled from the swampy weight of the blues, Becky and Maya attack their tunes with the gleeful viciousness of coyotes descending on a carcass. Once again, they teamed up with the supremely talented Jesse Gander (Japandroids, Bison b.c.), and the two women worked diligently to capture the sweaty intensity of their live act * in 2009, they played a staggering 157 shows * in the studio. They recorded razor-edged garage rock straight off the floor to analog tape. From the sawtoothed snarl of guitars that lead into album opener *Deer* to the heavy Sabbath-worthy riffs of *1880,* these 13 tracks bristle with a newfound sense of crispness and precision: we kill computers is as raw and urgent as a Pack a.d. performance.