Under Color of Official Right

Under Color of Official Right is the second album by Detroit post punk band Protomartyr. It was released on April 8, 2014 by Hardly Art.[1]

For the legal phrase "extortion under color of official right", see Hobbs Act.
Under Color of Official Right
Studio album by
Protomartyr
ReleasedApril 8, 2014 (2014-04-08)
RecordedJune 28–30, 2013
VenueKey Club Recording Company (Benton Harbor, Michigan)
Genre
Length34:42
LabelHardly Art
Protomartyr chronology
No Passion All Technique
(2012)		 Under Color of Official Right
(2014)		 The Agent Intellect
(2015)
Singles from Under Color of Official Right
  1. "Scum, Rise!"
    Released: January 10, 2014
  2. "Come & See"
    Released: February 24, 2014

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.4/10[2]
Metacritic83/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Consequence of SoundB−[5]
Drowned in Sound8/10[6]
NME8/10[7]
The Observer[8]
Paste8.6/10[9]
Pitchfork8.1/10[10]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Spin8/10[13]

Under Color of Official Right was met with considerable praise from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 83, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[3] Ranking it the 5th best album of the decade in 2020, Brooklyn Vegan wrote:[14]

Post punk sounds and industrial towns go hand in hand. Detroit’s Protomartyr have a sense of urgency and anger that could’ve sprouted from somewhere like Manchester or Cleveland in 1979 but frontman Joe Casey’s lyrics could’ve only sprung from one time and place. With a half-sung, half-shouted delivery, Casey is a true original, spewing literate bile that is usually funny, bleak and thoughtful all at the same time, while his three talented bandmates match his words with dark, powerful, exceptionally well-crafted music. [...] Under Color of Official Right, has them firing on all cylinders with Casey pointing his lens at, among other things, coastal invaders of his Detroit, absentee dads, local politics and inter-band dynamics. Best new band of this decade.

Accolades

In addition to the ones listed below, the song "Maidenhead" was ranked by Spin and Les Inrockuptibles as the 68th[15] and 42nd[16] best song of the year respectively. Pitchfork ranked "Scum, Rise!" 90th on their list of "The 100 Best Tracks of 2014".[17] Rob Sheffield ranked "What the Wall Said" 7th on his list of the "Top 25 Songs of 2014 So Far".[18]

Year-end
Publication Country Accolade Rank
The A.V. Club U.S. The 20 best albums of 2014 #7[19]
No Ripcord U.K. Top Albums of 2014 #3[20]
Loud and Quiet U.K. Albums of The Year 2014 #9[21]
Rolling Stone U.S. Rob Sheffield's Top 20 Albums of 2014 #10[22]
Chicago Tribune U.S. Top albums of 2014 #2[23]
The New York Times U.S. Ben Ratliff’s Top 10 Albums and Songs of 2014 #9[24]
NME U.K. Top 50 Albums of 2014 #39[25]
Spin U.S. The 50 Best Albums of 2014 #24[26]
Pazz & Jop U.S. The Top 50 Albums of 2014 #36[27]

Decade-end
Publication Country Accolade Rank
Treble U.S. Top 150 Albums of the 2010s #69[28]
Slug Mag U.S. 10 Post-Punk Albums From The 2010s That You'll Love Into 2020 -[29]
BrooklynVegan U.S. 141 Best Albums of the 2010s #77[30]
Bill’s Indie Basement: Favorite Albums of the 2010s #5[14]

Influence & covers

Author David Means cited the tracks "Maidenhead" and "Ain't So Simple", among others, as an influence on his novel Hystopia, writing that "they reclaim a certain Detroit aesthetic—casting an ear back to noisy machine tooling shops and factory floors, while also forward to some high tech future."[31] Andy MacFarlane of The Twilight Sad called it one of his favorite albums of the year.[32] The Dirty Nil covered the track "I'll Take That Applause" as the b-side to the sixth volume of their The Dirty Nil Record Club series of singles, released in 2017.[33][34]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Maidenhead"3:38
2."Ain't So Simple"2:17
3."Want Remover"2:29
4."Trust Me Billy"2:14
5."Pagans"1:11
6."What the Wall Said"3:11
7."Tarpeian Rock"2:02
8."Bad Advice"2:40
9."Son of Dis"1:08
10."Scum, Rise!"2:37
11."I Stare at Floors"2:33
12."Come & See"3:56
13."Violent"1:51
14."I'll Take That Applause"2:55

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes:

  • Bass Guitar – Scott Davidson
  • Drums – Alex Leonard
  • Guitar, Synthesizer ["Prophet 5"] – Greg Ahee
  • Vocals ["Vox"] – Joe Casey
  • Writing ["All Songs By"] – Protomartyr
Additional credits
  • Mastering – Sarah Register
  • Recording, Mixing – Bill Skibbe

Charts
Under Color of Official Right album chart
Chart Peak position
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[35] 19
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[36] 19

References
  1. Deville, Chris (March 31, 2014). "Stream Protomartyr Under Color of Official Right". Stereogum. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  2. "Under Color of Official Right by Protomartyr reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  3. "Reviews for Under Color of Official Right by Protomartyr". Metacritic. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  4. Thomas, Fred. "Under Color of Official Right – Protomartyr". AllMusic. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  5. Schonfeld, Zach (May 30, 2014). "Protomartyr – Under Color of Official Right". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  6. Gourlay, Dom (May 14, 2014). "Album Review: Protomartyr – Under Color Of Official Right". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  7. Homewood, Ben (April 17, 2014). "Protomartyr – 'Under Color Of Official Right'". NME. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  8. Empire, Kitty (April 6, 2014). "Under Color of Official Right review – Protomartyr's 'pleasurable dose of anomie'". The Observer. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  9. Prado, Ryan J. (April 8, 2014). "Protomartyr: Under Color of Official Right Review". Paste. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  10. Minsker, Evan (April 7, 2014). "Protomartyr: Under Color of Official Right". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  11. "Protomartyr: Under Color of Official Right". Q (334): 116. May 2014.
  12. Sheffield, Rob (April 17, 2014). "Under Color of Official Right". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  13. Tedder, Michael (April 14, 2014). "Protomartyr Open a Can of Post-Punk, Whoop-Ass on 'Under Color of Official Right'". Spin. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  15. "The 101 Best Songs of 2014". Spin. 2014-12-08. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  16. "Les 100 meilleurs albums de l'année des inRocKs". Les Inrocks (in French). Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  17. "The 100 Best Tracks of 2014 - Page 2". Pitchfork.
  18. Sheffield, Rob (19 June 2014). "Rob Sheffield's Top 25 Songs of 2014 So Far".
  19. Warwick, Kevin. "The 20 best albums of 2014". Music.
  20. "Top Albums of 2014: Part Two". No Ripcord.
  21. "Issue 64". Loud And Quiet.
  22. Sheffield, Rob (24 December 2014). "Rob Sheffield's Top 20 Albums of 2014".
  23. Kot, Greg. "Top albums of 2014: The best of a busy year". chicagotribune.com.
  24. Ratliff, Ben (11 December 2014). "Ben Ratliff's Top 10 Albums and Songs of 2014" – via NYTimes.com.
  25. Barker, Emily (25 November 2014). "NME's Top 50 Albums Of 2014". NME.
  26. "The 50 Best Albums of 2014". 9 December 2014.
  27. "Village Voice - New York News, Food, Culture and Events". www.villagevoice.com.
  29. "Editor's Picks: 10 Post-Punk Albums from the 2010s that You'll Love into 2020". SLUG Magazine. 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  31. Means, David (May 4, 2016). "Literary Mixtape: David Means's soundtrack for reflecting on the Vietnam War" – via www.theguardian.com.
  35. "Protomartyr Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard.
  36. "Protomartyr Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard.
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