February 4th, 2026
– Silver Kosmos
Noise Floor
Noise Floor is a monthly blog post for 88.7 the pulse, where I look into my favorite alternative albums and write about what makes me love them! Feel free to recommend your own directly to me at NoiseFloor4@gmail.com and you might just see your favorite get the attention it deserves.
Album Overview
Trash Classic by Frankie and the Witch Fingers is an album I had initially brushed off after it was released in 2025, but that all changed when I bought the cd this January. After hearing it through all the way while driving, it quickly became one of my most played CDs. I love this album, and no words could ever describe how quickly it became one of my top albums of all time.
Trash Classic is a fast punk album, with one unique change for the genre, synth melodies supplementing the riffs. This is definitely a game changer and I’m surprised I’ve never heard anything like it before. Many of the songs sound similar to something you’d hear 10-20 years ago, but in a new light, “classics”, for this generation. I believe this album did this intentionally as a main theme. After all, just look at the title: Trash Classic. It evokes imagery of something that’s been here for a while, now contorted by the passage of time.
The lyrics are catchy, and fun to sing along to. They’re all so simple and repetitive you feel like you could recite the whole piece after only hearing it once. That’s not to be dismissive of the quality either, if this album had any other vocalist I don’t think I’d love it as much as I do.
Frankie and the Witch Fingers has been around since 2013, originally based in Indiana before relocating to Los Angeles in 2014. In the 2010’s they had a more psychedelic rock, surf, and garage rock sound, but very recently they’ve shifted to a more punk aesthetic. The genre change was gradual, but I believe data doom was the first to really stand out, which came out in 2023. By 2025 with this release, they sound like a completely different band!
The album parodies parts of modern life, mostly related to technology, though some stray from tech, such as Economy.
Overstimulating | T.V. Baby
The album starts with channel rot, which acts more as an intro track. T.V. Baby instead fills the role of the first real song on the album. It kicks you right into it with a fast riff and drums. The vocals come in short staccato phrases on each side of your head, before the first synth line. The synth is just as frantic as every other part of the song, setting the tone of the album as obnoxious and fast.
My favorite part of the song occurs halfway through, as a half time bridge where everything finally slows down for a moment. It feels almost like something you’d hear from a metal breakdown, but in a punk context. Right after it strips down to just the riff before building back up to the full song moments later.
Personal Favorite | Out of the Flesh
Out of the Flesh is my favorite song on trash classic. It starts with a groovy synth line, which is quickly supplemented by a guitar riff to match. All that cuts off for the verse with drums and vocals. After every phrase the synth and guitar come back to respond. The call and response is perfectly catchy, the song barely has to ever evolve from it, but it does! After the first it has a little guitar solo before going into the next verse.
The tense verse perfectly builds into the chorus. The chorus has a descending guitar riff that I absolutely adore. In the final chorus going into the bridge it switches up to an ascending pattern that catches attention instantly.
The end of the song is kind of like on really long bridge. With a more traditional bridge first, as a logical extension of the song. But then it cuts into a weird synth part that completely dissolves the song, before kicking right back into the riff. It slowly ramps up in intensity and pitch at the very end, musically exploding before the next song.
Trash Classic | Total Reset
Total Reset rides the ending of Out of the Flesh, with another impossibly fast song. Like T.V. Baby, this song also has a little halftime breakdown, but this one leads into the first chorus. The riff is catchy, the drums provide a ton of momentum, and the synths are really fun and bouncy. The song is full of little one off bridges, each one adds just a little spice that improves the track as the whole.
Something about this song’s chords and phrasings almost makes it sound nostalgic, despite being brand new. It gives off cartoon theme song vibes in the chorus. I think the “classic” part of the album is really expressed in this track, sounding like something old, made new.
Total Reset is another song that explodes into cacophony at the end. Its a fun way to end a song that I wish more bands utilized. Two other songs I’ve heard this used in before are 21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson, and Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt.
Earworm | Economy
Economy’s chorus is often stuck in my head. By far one of the strongest parts of the songs. But my favorite part is the bridge, and is just as catchy.
Economy comments on consumerism and work ethic, boiling it down and making it sound cruel and robotic. Lines in the chorus “Surrender to inflation” and “Better get a job or you’ll be worthless” point out the mandatory participation in capitalism.
Gnarly | Gutter Priestess
One of the coolest songs on this album is Gutter Priestess. The riff consists of a call and response of the lead guitar on the left and the rhythm guitar on the right. It sounds unequivocally evil, or in other words, totally gnarly.
I absolutely love the chorus! Its a simple progression with long chords, but the stacked guitar and synth with the sparse vocals work perfectly together as a wall of sound. The song plays with stripping away instruments and adding them back, making it much more dynamic than it otherwise would be.
I love how empty the interludes are compared to the full choruses that proceed them, it provides a very sharp contrast that pulls your attention very effectively. And I can’t forget the bridge, its got a fast riff similar to the prechorus, and is insanely repetitive to immediately ingrain it into your mind on the first listen.
My favorite part is definitely the chorus for this one, it blew me away the first time I heard it, and on subsequent listens I’m still amazed by its simplicity and effectiveness.
Rewind and Review
Frankie and the Witch Fingers is a unique band, and they’ve tried out many different sounds through the years. Trash Classic is in my opinion, their best work. Playing with nostalgia and novelty in a ridiculous fast paced genre is a great idea, and it’s a blast to listen to.
This album will remain a favorite of mine for as long as I can imagine, with truly a one of a kind sound I haven’t heard anywhere else. If you feel like modern music is boring, give Trash Classic a spin, it might just be the album for you.
Wild Card | Trash Classic
February’s wild card pick is the title track: Trash Classic. Its the longest song on the track, at almost 8 minutes, while most songs on the album are only 3 or 4. Truly this song gets away with it by completely changing at the 2 minute mark from a rock song to a weird synth soundscape. It slowly builds, and I really mean slowly, up with more and more synth layers. It sounds like something out a movie soundtrack to me, with the latter half sounding kind of like a chase scene. This tension builds for a total of 4 minutes all on its own, before bringing the drums back, however the lyrics only come back at the very very end of the track, for one final 15 second chorus. The song is absolutely wild and such a fun way to end the album.
Ribbon Bow
That’s all for the month! Check back in on March 4th for the next issue. If you leave a recommendation at NoiseFloor4@gmail.com it might just be an album you love! Enjoy the shortest month of the year!
