Buch Spieler Records owners Knayte Lander, left, and Xavier Jimenez celebrate the reopening of their shop on Langdon Street in downtown Montpelier on Tuesday. The pair lost about 70 percent
Theaters, music venues, libraries, bookstores and other cultural institutions were among Vermont businesses damaged by floodwaters last week. Hundreds of artists have been forced to.
(Self-released, digital) Surprise, surprise. The record store proprietor with a dedicated post-punk/new-wave section in his shop now finds himself in a brand-new post-punk/new-wave band. A cadre of Montpelier badasses including Buch Spieler Records co-owner Knayte Lander, recent Long Island transplants Ian Denning and Rob Tav, and mononymous vocalist Henri have formed as New Erotics, a neon-streaked throwback outfit with modern sensibilities. Leaning hard into the synth-ified sounds of the 80s, the group delivers an incredibly solid first entry on its self-titled, four-song debut EP. In an email, Lander wrote that inspiration came from mainstays of the decade, such as Missing Persons and Berlin. He also noted that the kind of synth-punk New Erotics play full of flashy hooks both vocal and synth-strumental also enjoyed a brief revival in the early to mid-aughts through bands such as the Faint and the Sounds.