In T-Rextasy's new animated video for the song "Gap Yr Boiz," a female protagonist tries to deal with the boys who have broken her heart during that year-long break between high school and college. As the video plays out, we see the women of T-Rextasy adopting the role of a witchy Greek chorus, casting spells and plotting revenge in empty high-school classrooms. The detail in the video is impeccable, from the slightly profane blog posts one of the boys writes at his ashram to the '60s-inspired style of frontwoman Lyris Faron.
"As an animator, you want to reward repeat viewing," Christian Larrave tells NPR Music in an email. "And this story in particular lends itself to that. 'Gap Yr Boiz' is also a song that is rooted in the individual personalities of the band members." That's evident when Faron asks the other members of the band to share their experiences with the other "gap year fellas" — we hear each individual woman talk about guys who have anchor tattoos, use shampoo as toothpaste and don't really know how to play the banjo.
Larrave's video captures T-Rextasy's ethos: a conversational, feminist punk-rock attitude that is, at the end of the day, just plain fun. With a sound not too far off from No Doubt and the spirit of bands like Tacocat and The Julie Ruin, T-Rextasy delivers flawless punk-rock guitar riffs and snappy ska-infused bass lines embedded in intentional, radical politics.
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