The entire "indie sleaze" aesthetic, if that's what we're calling it these days, basically owes its existence to the Faint, a band that came ripping out of Omaha in the late '90s and pretty much redefined a certain version of hipster culture. The Faint wee punks from the same small circle that produced Bright Eyes and Cursive, but they made frantically throbbing, deeply horny synth-punk, and they really threw themselves into it. They had skinny black clothes and complicated hair and the word "sex" in multiple song titles, and their energy was ridiculous. I saw the Faint in Brooklyn in 2002, just as electroclash was popping off, and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Now, we're getting the chance to relive some classic Faint moments thanks to a couple of reissues and an upcoming tour.
For my money, the Faint's true masterpiece is the ridiculous 2001 blitzkrieg Danse Macabre, but there are plenty of bangers on the albums that came both before and after that one, 1999's Blank-Wave Arcade and 2004's Wet From Birth. In March, the Faint will release both of those albums in fancy double-disc packages with previously unreleased tracks, demos, and remixes. They'll also tour across the West Coast and the Midwest, and I cannot possibly recommend their live show enough.
Along with those announcements, the Faint have dropped the hard-pounding "Zealots," a previously unreleased track that appears on the Wet From Birth reissue. It definitely sounds like a Faint song, which is a good thing. Frontman Todd Fink says, "This song came from a dream Jacob had (our late keyboard player). In the dream, people were chanting, 'You will know we are zealots by our guns.' The lyrics are about the paradox between Christianity’s core message of love and the obsession with guns among some of its followers." Below, check out "Zealots," the reissue tracklists, and the band's tour dates.
Blank-Wave Arcade Deluxe Edition
Disc 1:
01 "Sex Is Personal
02 "Call Call"
03 "Worked Up So Sexual"
04 "Cars Pass In Cold Blood"
05 "Casual Sex"
06 "Victim Convenience"
07 "Sealed Human"
08 "In Concert"
09 "The Passives"
Disc 2:
01 "Cars Pass In Cold Blood (Recordist Remix)"
02 "Worked Up So Sexual (The Laces Remix)"
03 "The Passives (AJ/DJ Remix)"
04 "In Concert (The New Gender Remix)"
05 "Call Call (Transistor3 Remix)"
06 "Sealed Human (]['m Remix)"
07 "Sex Is Personal (The Faint 2024 Remix)" *
08 "Brokers, Priests, And Analysts"
09 "Cars Pass in Cold Blood" (live) *
10 "In Concert (The New Gender Remix)" live *
11 "Call Call" (live) *
Wet From Birth Deluxe Edition
Disc 1:
01 "Desperate Guys"
02 "How Could I Forget?"
03 "I Disappear"
04 "Southern Belles In London Sing"
05 "Erection"
06 "Paranoiattack"
07 "Dropkick The Punks"
08 "Phone Call"
09 "Symptom Finger"
10 "Birth"
DISC 2
01 "Zealots (Unrealized)" *
02 "Mister (Unrealized)" *
03 "Birth (Thailand Demo)"
04 "Desperate Guys (Demo)" *
05 "Symptom Finger (Demo)" *
06 "Paranoiattack (Demo)" *
07 "Hypnotised"
08 "I Disappear (FC Kahuna Remix)"
* previously unreleased
TOUR DATES:
3/21 - Santa Barbara, CA @ SoHo
3/22 - Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar & Billiards
3/24 - Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
3/25 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
3/27 - Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard
3/28 - Kansas City, MO @ Warehouse on Broadway
3/29 - St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
3/31 - Cincinnati, OH @ The Ballroom at The Taft
4/01 - Detroit, MI @ El Club
4/03 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
4/04 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
4/05 - Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s
The deluxe editions of Blank-Wave Arcade and Wet From Birth are out 3/14 on Saddle Creek.
