Description Pressing Info On Strategically Placed Bananas, Nathan Joyner and Alia Jyawook only partially embrace the half-serious dance punk anti-aesthetic that marked earlier efforts. Now a trio, Hot Nerds have built up their wheelhouse to include more brutal, tightly wound bursts of digital skronk made whole by raw, close-mic’d drums—courtesy of...

A first, uncritical pass through Hot Nerds’ new five-song EP might leave the listener wondering if they’ve just heard a set of tunes that might’ve helped to round out the not-quite-year-old, not-particularly-long-playing LP Strategically Placed Bananas. After all, the band continues to wear its Arab On Radar influence on its wizard sleeves....