Kassie Krut: “Reckless” Track Review

Kassie Krut was born out of the ashes of the great Philly math-rock band Palm, who disbanded in summer 2023, less than a year after the release of third album Nicks and Grazes. Like Aliens, or Fury Road, this sequel is, somehow, even better than the original. On their debut single for Fire Talk, “Reckless,” Palm members Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt, along with Nicks and Grazes producer Matt Anderegg, concoct a pop hook that’s irreverent, menacing, and madly catchy: “If you ask me who I wanna be/Im’a spell it out so it’s plain to see/K-A-S-S-I-E K-R-U-T-T-T-T.”

Isn’t that just sick? An “It’s Britney, bitch” or “My name is Prince and I am funky” for the Ridgewood set, chanted over a big, noisy electro-dub beat that draws lines between Mess-era Liars, early M.I.A., and Sleigh Bells’ first album. Alpert’s chorus—an ostensible fudging of her bandmate’s name—is sing-songy and just a little bit threatening, delivered with a big smile in the song’s frenetic video in a way that adds to the sharply realized bubblegum-noise. “Yeah, you wanna be a freak like me?” Alpert asks—the only appropriate answer being, seemingly, Please, God, yes.