Montréal / Los Angeles trio AMERICAN LIPS have roared back with their new full-length On Strike!, out now via Ancient Fashion Records. It’s a wiry, angular collection of art-punk, garage-wave, and noise-pop, fusing the sharp wit of Wire and The Fall with the melodic bite of Pixies, Devo, and Parquet Courts. Equal parts absurd and profound, On Strike! is a postmodern tantrum for the terminally overworked — and it sounds glorious.
The band—Adrian Popovich (Tricky Woo, FRVITS), Jessica Bruzzese, and Sebastien Grainger (Death From Above 1979)—turn modern malaise into movement. Popovich’s sardonic delivery cuts through wiry riffs and warped synths, while Grainger’s muscular drumming and Bruzzese’s low-end groove keep the chaos grounded. Together, they channel anxiety, humor, and irony into tightly coiled bursts of energy that feel both defiant and danceable.
If their 2022 Waste of Crime / Labor of Hate maxi-single was a fractured experiment in noise and collage, On Strike! is the full manifesto — louder, sharper, and far more deliberate in its attack. Across its concise tracklist, AMERICAN LIPS tackle the absurdity of the digital age, late-stage capitalism, and the mental exhaustion that comes with it. The thrash-heavy opener “Ragebait” and sardonic single “Cardboard Trash” take aim at consumer culture’s obsession with attention and waste. Meanwhile, “Got It Made” and “Sleep” drag the modern burnout condition through layers of fuzz and irony, turning resignation into exhilaration.
Produced at Ancient Fashion East (Montréal) and Ancient Fashion West (Lucknow, Ontario/Los Angeles), the album was recorded by Popovich and mixed by Grainger, maintaining the band’s raw, analog edge. Popovich’s experience behind the board for SUUNS, The Sheepdogs, and Duchess Says gives the record its perfect balance of underground bite and studio precision. The cover art and production aesthetic nod to DIY punk’s golden age — gritty, handmade, and unapologetically weird.
Ultimately, On Strike! isn’t just an album; it’s a declaration. AMERICAN LIPS transform exhaustion and outrage into something alive, funny, and unreasonably catchy. It’s an anti-burnout manifesto disguised as a dance record — the sound of rebellion dressed in distortion and sarcasm, grinning through the feedback.
