I just watched the videos from Speedy Ortiz’s new album Twerp Verse which was released on April 27. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this may be their best album to date. It’s smart, complex, heartfelt, and the band is playing and singing better than ever. Reading the comments on YouTube (almost always a mistake) I was struck how so many dudes, mostly, seem to think that Speedy Ortiz has been going downhill since Major Arcana. I mean, I like Major Arcana, too, but Foil Deer also excellent, and don’t forget to mention the great EP’s Sports and Real Hair, and so on. I can’t help but make a connection between Sadie’s increasingly articulate voice for feminism, consent, gender equality and against racism, fat-shaming, slut-shaming, rape culture, ableism and so on, and the number of dudes complaining that Speedy Ortiz should go back to their grungy “roots” of Major Arcana. Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I think not.
Anyway, if you’re okay with Speedy not re-making Major Arcana over and over again, give Twerp Verse a listen – you may just like it! I for one think the world is a much better place for having Sadie Dupuis and her rocking band mates in it.