Big Ten Inch Record #17
The Method Actors — Dancing Underneath
(from the EP Rhythms of You, Armageddon Records 1981)
In their original two-man incarnation, the Method Actors were probably the purest iteration of the pre-R.E.M. sound of Athens, Georgia. The pop leanings of the B-52’s and Pylon’s occasional feints into jangly melodicism have no place here: this is where rock-crit buzzwords like “jittery,” “herky-jerky” and “skronky” are born. As a result, the Method Actors never could really sustain my interest for more than a couple-three songs at a time. (Vic Varney’s yelpy vocals in particular start to wear at my nerves.) But I still really dig “Dancing Underneath.”
–Stewart Mason
