“Boring is the worst word that I know,” Cousines Like Shit sing on “Boring” before adding, ” And if I call you boring…” which leaves the listener to fill the blank but is clearly something you don’t not want to be the recipient of. Led by real life cousins Hannah and Laura Breitfuss, this Vienna, Austria duo specialize in detached, danceable post-punk that mixes drony keyboard washes with spiky guitars, disco drumming, pop choruses and heaps of sly, side-eyed attitude. “Permanent Earthquake” is their second album and, like 2023’s Avant Trash, it’s crammed with barbed bangers. They actually made it in NYC with The Wants’ Madison Velding-VanDam who helped them get sonics just right, with the rhythm section snap of classic 1980 new wave.
Musically they are somewhere between Ladytron and Broadcast, but thematically Cousines are much more playful and snarky, like a couple of partygoers who’d rather dissect every attendee than mingle. (In that respect they recall Munich’s Chicks on Speed.) With it’s strong lyrical hook, “Boring” is the obvious hit here but “No” has the best chorus, and “Frenemies” and “Sober at the Club” aren’t far behind in the hooks department. No shit here: these Cousines have made a record perfect for dancing at angles at inappropriate times.
The Fat Angel Sings 