Stream: Sego, ‘Tandang’

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Sego (Photo by Syd Winn)

Apparently we typists who’ve described Sego as “art-punk” ever since they rolled into L.A. from Utah those many years ago had it wrong. The band is now self-identifying as “art-punk by non-punk non-artists.”

(Seriously, though, what do you call a band whose music has more angles than a geometry text, whose verses are mostly deadpan soliloquies, who toss off pop choruses because … well, gotcha!, who at any given moment could be any -punk hyphenate, who make their home in a warehouse called The Cube and whose last release was a six-song EP released as a 17-minute medley with killer video to match. Oh, and they’re named for the state flower of Utah.)

As chief speak-singer Spencer Petersen himself might say, very nonchalantly, whatever, forever.

The happy news is that the quartet is working on a follow-up to their 2019 album, “Sego Sucks.” And this week brought the new single, “Tandang,” a deliciously messy 3 1/2 minutes of danceable … art-punk, à la Beck or DFA artists.

“As a band, both socially and artistically, we’ve always been kind of outsiders,” they say. “So when we moved from Utah to L.A., we ended up getting a warehouse and building our own scene that would have us. ‘Tandang’ is about being an outsider, but pretending to fit in, but not caring because screw them anyway, but actually wanting to be a part of something cool, but we’re cool, right? But what is cool? … It’s complicated, ya know?”

||| Stream: “Tandang”

||| Live: Sego play at The Cube (their warehouse) on April 8. Details TBA.

||| Previously: “Life With Pam,” Quarantunes, “Quid Pro Quo” singles with Big Black Delta, “Sego Sucks,” “Heart Attack,” “Shame,” “Be Alone,” “Cigarette Kids,” “Sucker/Saint,” “Whatever Forever,” live at Echo Park Rising, “Once Was Lost Now Just Hanging Around,” “Obscene Dream,” “Micky Macali,” “The Fringe”