Be Your Own Pet: Be Your Own Pet

Be Your Own Pet: Be Your Own Pet | |
| Label: | Ecstatic Peace/Universal |
| Format: | Album |
| Media: | CD |
| Release Date: | 2006 |
| Genre: | Rock/Pop |
With a current lineup that includes Monotract’s through-a-laptop-darkly hollertronics and the gouging guitar-rock traction of Awesome Color and Black Helicopter, über-indie imprint Ecstatic Peace, the long-running vanity label of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, wasn’t a natural fit for a big ol’ major label like Universal. But Universal still wanted to bankroll--at least partially--Ecstatic’s goings-on, and thankfully Moore has Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet, four teenaged rioters already awash in critical ink and teen-punk cutie appeal.
"We’re fast/ We’re fast/ We’re fast/ We’re having a blast!" singer Jemina Abegg grrly-girl squeals on the jerky, crashing "Bicycle Bicycle, You Are My Bicycle." She announces her gang as hellions on two wheels, laying out a mission statement for this mercurial self-titled debut. Be Your Own Pet thrashingly conveys an electric sense of being young, snotty, and in a fucking hurry to get to the next song already. "We all have holes in our socks/ And Bad Brains totally rocks," Abegg yelps over manic, panicked quickie "Let’s Get Sandy."
One worries somewhat about Abegg going on about popping prescription pills. She’s probably kidding, but who knows if any of Be Your Own Pet’s 20,000-plus MySpace friends will take her word as indie-rock gospel? But speeding along, whether by all-natural or artificial means, is BYOP’s appeal. Such zealous, shock ’n’ roar exuberance is fiendishly infectious even if the end product isn’t breaking any new ground. Tunes and attitude they’ve got to spare. The only question is how many miles do these kids have in them.