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Mar 29, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

Brooklyn-based outfit Two-Man Giant Squid debuted in 2022 with their first full-length record, Abyssal Gigantism, introducing the band’s noisy, nervy, and melodic style of psych punk and post punk. The band then followed last year with their sophomore record, Intro To Basement, and this year they are keeping up their rapid-fire release schedule with a forthcoming third album. Earlier this week the band shared the album’s lead single, “I Was a DJ in 2015,” and today they’re back with an accompanying video, premiering with Under the Radar.

“I Was a DJ in 2015” finds the band taking a look back at the mid-2010s EDM boom, pairing a pounding backbeat with electronic elements for a sardonic examination of nostalgia and trend-chasing. Frontman Mitch Vinokur delivers his vocals in spoken-word post punk yelps, backed by insistent rhythms and spacey guitar accents. In the midst of it all, the band spotlights a dizzying host of arpeggiated synth hooks, lacing the track with irresistible dance breaks and familiar synth tones. Though the results don’t quite sound as bombastic as 2010s EDM, they do echo touchstone indie outfits of the era like MGMT or Phoenix, soaking Vinokur’s vocals in sweeping melodies and glittering synths.

The track is also at least partially autobiographical. Vinokur explains, “I was sucked into that scene before realizing the trend wasn’t for me. This single pays a tongue-in-cheek homage to those days and focuses on what it’s like to try and force yourself to become part of something only to then watch yourself grow out of it. I wrote the song from the point of view of a DJ who is pretty torn on how to look back on all that. It’s like, “what the heck were we doing?.. I don’t know but I miss it.”

The accompanying video finds Vinokur as a recovering DJ attending a “DJs Anonymous” meeting. He continues, saying of the track, “With it being an homage to 2000s dance floors, obviously we wanted the arpeggiator and synths to be front and center. But I also love the twangy guitars we built around all that. It gives it a longing, almost indie-love-song type feel.”

Check out the song and video below, out now via Mint 400 Records.