Los Angeles-based band Sego unleash an eclectic, charismatic art-punk and rock appeal on their new album, Direct To DVD. Flipping a format once associated with bargain-bin status into a high-energy feature, the record maneuvers through raucous art-pop buoyancy and sharp social commentary. From evolving rhythmic flair to gritty grunge-rock and house-inflected remixes, the collection serves as an untethered showcase of the band’s balancing of restless experimentalism with replay-inducing accessibility.

“Direct To DVD borrows its name from a format that once implied lesser value and flips it into a feature,” says guitarist/vocalist Spencer. “These songs exist in the margins – where experimentation, humor, and risk tend to live without expectation. It feels like flipping through a box of tapes you forgot you loved: unfinished thoughts, alternate versions, and moments that matter precisely because they weren’t overthought. These are the songs that happen between albums.”

“Never Enuf” kickstarts the album with infectious appeal, fondly reminding of Spoon’s most grooving tracks in its vocal tone and knack for ascending rhythmic playfulness. “Drinking from the endless insatiable dream,” a debonair vocal drive continues, intensifying as a “there’s a glitter in the butter” refrain bites amidst clap-laden charm. Celebratory backing vocal refrains bolster the fuzzy, amiable rock drive with further enjoyment, as do the doses of synths and rollicking guitars past the two-minute turn. Ensuing track “SAD” continues the contagious energy, navigating amidst panting vocal effects and twanging guitars that eventually conjoin with replay-inducing vigor. Lyrical depictions of struggling to move on, after giving someone your entire heart, pair fantastically with punchy vocal charisma and heavy-propulsion guitar layers.

“Buy It Break It” also invigorates, fusing shimmering guitar swipes, pulsing bass, and enthusiastic vocals as lyrics prove both swaggering and self-lacerating — skewering fame-chasing and inherited guilt “You write your name on the bathroom stall / you like to think that you’re famous,” the vocals marvel, capturing delusion colliding with disillusion as a title-bearing exclamation arrives seamlessly. A sharp vocal and aesthetical switch-up appears briefly yet impactfully, with a more restrained synth-pop lightness, before launching back into the rock-ready vigor.

Many of the album’s tracks stir with rousing immediacy and tonal brightness, like the head-nodding blast of whirring energy within “Exposure” and the hard-rocking tenacity within “Falling Down.” The latter is especially memorable in its traversal from aggressive energy into a more halted, theatrical emotion — channeling peak Weezer as the title-touting hook comes into view, enthralling particularly after the three-minute turn as subdued guitars and spacey synths converge into an anthemic charge of blistering guitars and delectably raucous vocals.

The albums shifts into a more danceable, intriguing realm throughout the final tracks. “Body Stretch” retains a twangy, frolicking rock passion, while being especially rhythm-forward in its book-ends — setting up well for the album’s three closing tracks, all being EDM and house remixes of their older material. Mr. Tape’s remix of “Wild Horses” infuses throbbing bass, party-set sample energy, and wispy synths into an LCD Soundsystem-esque vocal feeling, while Mondo Cozmo’s remix of the same track adds a more effervescent, upfront vibrancy to the mix. Spencer Ether’s remix of “Normal Baby 99” also enamors with its dancefloor-set vocal encouragements and pulsing bass drops. In both its rock-forward majority and electro-friendly closers, Direct To DVD is a thoroughly resonating success from Sego.

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