The Thermals

At this moment in time, The Thermals are the greatest band in the world to me. If you think me the easy mark, then consider this a warning that the rest of you are too. As long as blood courses through the veins and the heart beats, The Thermals’ message of electricity and action should hit hard. No underground music fan should be able to resist the heart-bursting, snot-fueled punk poetry epitomized by the band’s “How We Know” with guitarist and vocalist Hutch Harris copping the disarming nonchalance of Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus (filtered through Buzzcocks nerve-frayed noise), singing, “You spoon water like love/ and I will take it if you can take it,” and repeating over and over, “This is how we know/ This is how we go/ This is how we know.” Everything from the album title onward is a call to the excitement and immediacy of the moment that may have just escaped you. Do you care? If not, The Thermals care enough for all of us, making them heroic in the most perfect and innocent way.