BEST NEW TRACKS: MODEL CHILD - TRASH

Low is the new high on "Trash," the newest and best single from Model Child.

People throw away the damnedest things. Spend any time in a college town or any place with a highly itinerant population, and you'll find the craziest things. You'll find whole living room sets, enough flatware to stock a commercial kitchen. If you dig hard enough, you might find precious gems and jewels.

We're reminded of the old saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." What we consider garbage in America would be the height of luxury for much of the rest of the world. In this culture of conspicuous consumption and immediate gratification, people have a tendency to overlook what's right in front of them, while they're busy gazing off into some distant future, where they believe that material belongings will fill some gaping hole in their soul.

"Trash" is the new single from the enigmatic new L.A. producer Model Child. It's a reflection on the throwaway culture of American society. In America, sadly, people are seen as disposable as styrofoam cups or last year's fashion. What happens to these cast-offs? Do they simply disappear, like banana peels into the landfill? Unfortunately, out of sight does not mean out of existence. These disposable people are shunted to the outskirts of society, where we're left to fend for ourselves, growing radioactive beneath halogen lights, building strange new cultures out of discarded furniture, rotting fashion, yesterday's leftovers.

MODEL CHILD - TRASH

This is the society from which "Trash" originates. The hyper-colorful music video accompanying Model Child's new single finds the producer at some apocalyptic after-hours party, populated by society's cast-offs. These are not garbage people, however. If anything, they're trash royalty, building new empires from cardboard and twine. Constructing dreams from twine and burned-out Christmas lights.

"Trash" is pure electro-punk, some of the truest punk rebellion for the 21st Century. Instead of framing their rebel anthems with Chuck Berry riffs and the Spirit of '77, "Trash" is a two-fingers-in-the-air punk club anthem, cobbling together rough, distorted beats and slimy, glistening synths. It brings to mind the rude club anthems of early Crystal Castles, when Alice Glass was still in the band, or the rough-and-tumble, down-and-dirty Zef rap of early Die Antwoord.

"Trash" is Punk Rock as club anthem, spiteful and acidic and smooth in equal measure. It's music for dancing or loving as much as throwing molotov cocktails.

"Trash" reminds us to open our eyes to the world around us, to stop and appreciate what you already have. It reminds us to not take the people around us for granted. People are not disposable, like some Velveteen Rabbit to burn when they get soiled. We Are: The Guard are so glad we regularly dig through the rubble of SoundCloud links and new producers in search of treasure. "Trash" is most assuredly a treasure. Let it be the soundtrack for your next apocalyptic house party.

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.