Straw Man Army is a

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

duo based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The band has released four albums since their founding in 2018.

History

The duo first met in high school in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and formed Straw Man Army in 2018. Their first album, ''Age of Exile'', was released in October 2020. Its lyrics address the legacy of U.S. colonialism, and the band donated the profits from album sales to

The Red Nation The Red Nation is a Native American advocacy group that focuses on decolonization and Marxism as means to liberate Indigenous peoples. In 2021, in response to the Green New Deal, the group published the Red Deal, a proposal designed to supplement ...

, a

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

advocacy group. In 2021, Straw Man Army recorded a soundtrack for ''Her Majesty's Ship'', an experimental 2019 film based on Charles Darwin's 1839 memoir ''

The Voyage of the Beagle ''The Voyage of the Beagle'' is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his ''Journal and Remarks'', bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of ''The Narrative ...

.'' Their 2022 album ''SOS'' was named by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'',

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, and

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

as one of the best albums of the year. The band donated profits from sales of ''SOS'' to Roots Unbound, a

prison abolition The police and prison abolition movement is a political movement, mostly active in the United States, that advocates replacing policing and prison system with other systems of public safety. Police and prison abolitionists believe that policing a ...

nonprofit. Their 2024 album ''Earthworks'' was met with continued critical acclaim, being named to several year-end lists. Straw Man Army has stated that ''Age of Exile'', ''SOS'', and ''Earthworks'' are intended as a trilogy focused on the past, present, and future, respectively.

Musical style and influences

Straw Man Army is known for its

DIY ethic "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi- ...

, its politically charged lyrics, and its experimental use of ambient sound. The band's anarcho-punk musical style incorporates elements of

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. Straw Man Army shares members with D4MT labelmates Kaleidoscope and Tower 7. Fentress and Deutsch have described CAN,

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

, and the Apostles as some of their biggest influences. Critics have compared the band to

Wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

, the Ex,

Zounds Zounds are an English anarcho punk/post-punk band from Reading, Berkshire, formed in 1977. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and were also involved in the squatting ...

This Heat This Heat were an English experimental rock band, formed in early 1976 in Camberwell, London by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward (drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Willi ...

, and

Crass Crass was an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle, and a resistance movement. Crass popularized the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, ...

, while also noting its "sparse, driven" sound that resists easy categorization.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Age of Exile'' (2020) (D4MT Labs Inc.) *''SOS'' (2022) (D4MT Labs Inc., La Vida Es Un Mus) *''Earthworks'' (2024) (D4MT Labs Inc., La Vida Es Un Mus)

Soundtracks

*''Her Majesty's Ship OST'' (2021) (Stucco Soundtracks)

Singles

*"Extinction Burst" (2024) *"Look Alive" (2024)

References

External links

D4MT Labs Inc.
– U.S. label website
La Vida Es Un Mus
– Europe label website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Straw Man Army American post-punk music groups American punk rock groups American musical duos Musical groups from Brooklyn Musical groups established in 2018 Punk rock groups from New York (state)

History

Musical style and influences

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

Singles

See also

References

External links