Cold Court’s debut EP is an infectious, glitchy genre mashup

Cold Court is a brother-sister duo from Philly that seems to love nothing more than shoving all of their influences together in a messy soup that at least superficially resembles the hyperpop you’ve come to expect from acts like 100 Gecs. But, where songs like “Dumbest Girl Alive” goofily wink at pop punk and emo, Cold Court are a bit more self-serious, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The opening track on the band’s debut EP \ (^_^) / (aka Hands Up ), “Nina”, starts off sounding not unlike the dance punk bands that stormed the scene in the mid aughts like Franz Ferdinand or Test Icicles. But that all starts to change about a minute in, when the skuzzy riff gets chopped up and fed through a beat repeater. Another minute later, there’s a mellow proggy bridge that calls to mind Mars Volta. Then the whole thing ends on a barrage of glitches and digital chaos. The record largely continues in this fashion. The songs on Hands Up clearly started life on drums and guitar. But then Mini and Jojo fed their creations to a computer, added layers, rearranged the pieces, and piled on the effects. Single “Burn” is perhaps the best example of all the parts coming together. It features big rock riffs, Daft Punk-esque synths, dubstep chops, autotuned vocals, and even a rapped bridge. Yet the whole thing feels like a cohesive, seething whole as they shout, “I just want to see it burn, give a fuck about your word.” They’re not the deepest lyrics, but it works. …