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Breaking The Balls of History

Quasi

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The band of two that sounds like ten return with a tenth studio album. Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney) used lockdown to revitalise their long-running Quasi music machine with the result being the blistering Breaking the Balls of History. Word from Sub-Pop, the duo’s label, is that Coomes and Weiss overcame the stress of being removed from the road during lockdown by meeting up in their tiny practice space every single day to play, recreating “the road” at home.

Besides technical brilliance, the Quasi calling card is their seemingly ceaseless energy, and it takes barely 30 seconds before opening track Last Long Laugh explodes into drums and distorted guitar and from there Breaking the Balls of History never lets up. The John Goodmanson (Bikini Kill, Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney)-produced long-player slams into the listener with the raging riff of Back In Your Tree building on the momentum of the explosive opener. It’s an odd statement to concur that a record with lyrics such as “Fuck the whole human race man!” feels inherently positive as the Portland twosome simply go for it full throttle.

For a perfect synopsis of the record, listen to the 69 second long title track. Unadulterated energy, joy, release.

It felt so life-affirming. I can hear in the music how happy I am to be there and to be playing at that level again, I get to exist.

Janet Weiss

Breaking The Balls of History by Quasi is available from all good record shops now.

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