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Music

Vundabar's "Shuffle" Is a Wonderful Takedown of Big Egos and Small Hands

All Bandcamp sales of the Boston's outfit's reckless new single will go to benefit Planned Parenthood.

Since the election, musicians have been churning out some excellent new tunes for some excellent causes, and we're seeing no sign of slowing. The latest is lo-fi garage outfit Vundabar, who make their return after a couple years on the road with a cult following in tow.

On March 10, the Boston duo will re-release their 2015 sophomore album Gawk, revamped with a ferocious new single, "Shuffle," premiering on Noisey below. The track amps up everything we loved about the band since we first heard early single "Holy Toledo"—sludgy guitars, heaving choruses, and a too-smart-for-your-own-good recklessness a la the Violent Femmes and Pixies. It's anxious and arrogant, witty and desperate. Oh, and it's also a vundabar takedown of a certain Cheeto-hued head of state; you can practically feel the spit hitting your face as guitarist-vocalist Brandon Hagen howls the increasingly manic chorus: "I just want to hear my own voice."

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"I originally wrote this song to reflect on the toxic nature of communication when it reduces to an intermediary for self-obsession," says guitarist-vocalist Brandon Hagen. "The narrator and the instrumentation both swaggering and arrogant, it brings us into the mind of one willing to use anything as a mirror. The lengths such a person would stretch to catch their reflection in the gleam of another's eye is truly terrifying, as is the audacity to hold that entitle. Listening back to the song, I can't help but see one coiffed man of recent notoriety at the center of it…We're casting our stone. We are not 'down with the sickness (Disturbed),' and we hope it stays that way since Obamacare is being repealed. In the spirit of affordable/free care, all Bandcamp sales of the song will be donated to Planned Parenthood."

Listen to the premiere of "Shuffle" below, and stay tuned for a new third album from Vundabar out later this year.

Catch Vundabar on tour:

3.16 - Hamden, CT @ The Outer Space*
3.17 - Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong*
3.18 - Richmond, VA @strangematterrva*
3.19 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian w/ Jacuzzi Boys
3.30 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre ^
3.31 - Burlington, VT @ Signal Kitchen ^
4.01 - Montreal, QC @ Quai Des Brumes ^
4.02 - Toronto, ON @ Smiling Buddha ^
4.07 - Brooklyn, NY @ Silent Barn ^
4.08 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs ^

* w/ Sports
^ w/ Horse Jumper of Love

Photo by Rider Doolittle

Andrea Domanick is Noisey's West Coast Editor. Follow her on Twitter