Before they formed New York’s Shy Child, Pete Cafarella and Nate Smith helped funk up the Washington, D.C. punk scene as members of Dischord band El Guapo (which splintered into the even more groove-oriented Supersystem), an experience that convinced them that beats designed for the dance floor should hit just as hard as those intended for moshing. With production help from Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, the Rapture, Kate Nash), the aggro-disco jams here, driven by Cafarella’s keytar, stay true to Noise Won’t Stop‘s title, pulsing and thrashing with a barely controlled fury. Even when the twosome slow things down, as on “What’s It Feel Like?” they keep the energy cranked.
