Mediocre

On To Know You’re Screwed, the Dangerbird debut EP from queer West LA rock duo Mediocre, Piper Torrison (She/They) and Keely Martin (She/Her) immediately get to twisting the lyrical knife. With the opening line, we find out, “To Know You’re Screwed is to Know a Lot,” an indisputable statement, before even getting to the punchline: “and I’m a motherfucking genius.” She’s got a head full of ways it could all go wrong–but there’s an out! “Don’t worry babe, it’s all self-taught/ could be all wrong anyway.” It’s a once-in-a-generation sentiment, from Socrates on down to Operation Ivy: all I know is I know nothing. Here, Mediocre hints, all I know is I am nothing. It’s when the chorus hits that you realize the song is a mantra of abstaining from such anxiety: “Push it away, I push it away/ and I save it for the next day.” A blistering opening statement of elemental, edge-of-your-seat rock ‘n’ roll at its most honest.