The Fat Angel Sings

This is the second time Screaming Females have joined us for AV Undercover, but the first time the trio has played a Taylor Swift song. (Last time around, it was Sheryl Crow.) You’ll surely agree that the energy brought to this version is of a different sort than the original song, but that it’s no less powerful. The New Jersey’s band’s latest album is “Rose Mountain”. The great Jersey punk power trio Screaming Females are no strangers to the A.V. Club’s Undercover web series, in which bands pick a song from a list to cover. Three years ago, they made their first appearance, reducing Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” to flaming wreckage. And now they’re back on the latest episode, taking on Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and giving it a surprisingly straight reading. I would’ve rather heard them cover literally any other Taylor Swift song, but it’s still a blast to hear frontwoman Maria Paternoster applying her unhinged megaton howl to Swift’s lyrics. The “this sick beat” spoken-word bit is especially transcendent, as is Paternoster’s “I guess we’re done now” face.