BODEGA

The art-damaged Brooklyn band Bodega want to get people thinking while they boogie, and their 2018 debut album, Endless Scroll, spotlighted an abrasive dance-punk sound built on shouted vocals, deep thoughts, and jumpy rhythms. While they sanded off some of the rough sonic edges on subsequent releases like 2019′s Shiny New Model EP and 2022′s Broken Equipment, they kept the lyrics sharp and the music bouncy. In 2024, they made a jump to a major label with Our Brand Could Be Yr Life and responded with their tightest, most melodic set yet. Bodega formed when guitarist/vocalist Ben Hozie and vocalist Nikki Belfiglio’s previous group, Bodega Bay, downsized their name and changed the lineup. That band formed in 2013, released Our Brand Could Be Yr Life in 2015 — an album recorded on the internal mike in GarageBand — and split the next year. When they relaunched as Bodega, Hozie and Belfiglio kept much of that group’s spiky post-punk energy and snarky anti-consumerism attitude, playing shows around the city and beyond, opening for the likes of Protomartyr and La Luz, among others. With a batch of songs ready — some written mere weeks earlier as the Bodega Bay lineup was dissolving — Bodega headed off to record their debut album. With Austin Brown of Parquet Courts working the dials on the Tascam 388 tape machine his band used to record their classic Light Up Gold, the collection of shouty and melodic post-post-punk tunes came together, and Endless Scroll (on What's Yr Rupture?) was released in July 2018. As the album hit record store shelves, Bodega toured the U.S. as headliners for the first time. They also played shows in the U.K., and the live album Witness Scroll was recorded at clubs in Glasgow and London. The band released the cleaned-up and more focused Shiny New Model EP in late 2019. After the EP was released, Hozie and Belfiglio launched themselves into a film career, making a mark as the filmmakers behind 2020′s PVT CHAT. They had to put this pursuit on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions and switched their focus back to the band, which now featured the talents of bassist Adam See, drummer Tae Lee, and lead guitarist Dan Ryan, to work on a set of songs inspired by the band’s book club — where they read and studied the work of a number of philosophers — and their feelings about modern world annoyances like advertising, gentrification, and positivity. Produced by Hozie with the help of the group’s live sound mixer Bobby Lewis, 2022′s Broken Equipment balanced their witty, intense lyrics with sparkling-clean, modern new wave sounds. The band headed out on tour and in 2023 issued the Xtra Equipment EP, a collection of tracks recorded at sessions for the album but not used. After another lineup shift that resulted in drummer Adam Shumski replacing Lee, the group signed with Chrysalis Records and recorded their third album, Our Brand Could Be Yr Life. It was made up of reworked versions of songs Hozie and Belfiglio had begun working on nearly a decade earlier, along with some newly written songs as well; all of which were sharp attacks on modern life wrapped in danceable and punchy indie rock. The band kicked off a lengthy world tour soon after the album’s release in April. ~ Tim Sendra