Kevin Bronson on March 7th, 2016

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The punnily named Prism Tats is the work of one-man garage-rock dynamo Garett van der Spek, who came to Los Angeles by way of Seattle and ended up there by way of his native Durban, South Africa. Van der Spek’s debut album “Prism Tats,” on the way April 15 from Anti- Records, finds him whooping and hollering and yelping and crooning over the most basic elements — biting guitar, a bass synth and a drum machine. It’s as no-frills as it is electric, drawing inspiration, van der Spek says, from the “invention and resourcefulness that permeates all aspects of life in South Africa — almost a punk ethic, a will to do it your own way, and if there isn’t a way, invent one.” Although, he adds, the tight, 10-song excursion was deeply informed by new surroundings: “The album is about the experiences I’ve had since I moved to America, that total departure from what was.” After a self-released EP last year, Prism Tats began unveiling music from the album, with the wry, unhinged single “Pacifist Masochist.” Today, Prism Tats released director Ryan Enkema’s noirish video for “Death or Fame,” two propositions van der Spek invites, “whichever comes first / I don’t mind / as long as it hurts.”

||| Watch: The videos for “Death or Fame” and “Pacifist Masochist”

||| Also: Stream “Pacific Masochist”

||| Live: Prism Tats plays March 21 at Hyperion Tavern, April 18 at It’s a School Night at Bardot and opens for Nada Surf on May 21 at the Teragram Ballroom.