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What’s up Sorry Staters?
As I’m finishing up writing this, I’m gearing up to make the drive I’ve made soooo many times in my life, a good 2.5 hours on I-95 up to Richmond. It’ll be the first full Public Acid practice we’ve had in what feels like a very long time. I’m feeling stoked as we’re gearing up for our record release party in a couple weeks. That said, forgive me if my intro is a little brisk this week! Here’s my staff pick, a record I was excitedly anticipating:
It’s always weird when I put some energy out into the universe, and I’m rewarded with a totally coincidental reward in return. I revisited the matched pair of singles by Pura Manía from way back in 2014 a few months ago. These 2 7”s, La Estafa Musical and Música Para Gente Fea, were basically released back to back, and I remember them being a huge favorite amongst the crew here at Sorry State whenever we first stocked them. It had been years since the last time I listened to Pura Manía, and I just remember thinking, “Goddamn, these records are STILL so killer.” I even talked about them on Analog Attack’s podcast What Are You Listening To? back in November. And then, like a message delivered by angels descending from the heavens, I found out through the grapevine that Pura Manía had a new EP coming out on Roach Leg. What are the chances? 10 years later, I guess they decided it’s finally time. I didn’t even know how bad I wanted a new record from them until I found out it was happening.
First of all, this new record Extraños Casos De La Vida Real does not disappoint. I remember before I even had the chance to listen to it, Daniel described it as sounding pretty much just like their old stuff. Which I was like, if it does happen to be the case that they didn’t change much at all, then that’s cool with me! But now, having listened to it, I think Daniel might have undersold it for me a little bit. When you first drop the needle on the A side, it opens with an introduction of dramatic, atmospheric piano that reprises the guitar melody from the opening track on their LP, Cerebros Punk. I think making a callback to one of the band’s previous melodies that is immediately recognizable was super clever. Like a soothing blanket of familiarity. But then, like an unexpected, startling jump-scare, the band launches into the first track “El Viaje Al Interiro Del Cuerpo,” which kicks off with this Rezillos-esque walking bass line. What struck me right off the bat is that the production sounds much less like a raw, 4-track recording, unlike their previous releases. They make some buck wild, off the wall choices with the FX, dude. Experimental ideas, that perhaps with other bands, I’d think to myself “This is whack.” I mean, the bass is loud in the mix and drenched in chorus, which I would already expect for that New Age-era Blitz sound I assume they’re influenced by. But holy shit, on the intro to the 2nd track “El Mundo Al Revés”… it sounds like drums have like a crazy phaser effect on them. The drums do this heavy, pounding fill and then the super reverbed out choir of lads comes in. “Whoa oh oh ooooh oh oh.” Reading this, you might not get it, but this gang of burly dudes repeats this refrain for basically the whole song. It’s pretty cool haha.
They also do a cover by The Screamers… ahem, excuse me, “Los Screamers.” “122 Hours of Fear,” or “122 Horas De Miedo” in this case, is such a fitting cover for Pura Manía to choose. They totally nail the creepy intro. Then there’s that big break where the vocals cue the band to kick back in. I’m used to the original version, so hearing a Screamers tune sang in Spanish makes it sound totally rad and fresh to the ears. Pura Manía does have that kinda Oi! thing going on, but like I find with a lot of Latino punk, a bit of death rock creeps its way into the vibe of the sound. And somehow, early LA punk seems right at home for Pura Manía as well. Dom even commented, “Sounds like the bass player was listening to The Cure a lot before they made this record.” Haha. Side note: Funny enough, there was a short-lived band from Raleigh called Crete who covered this same Screamers tune. Brought a smile to my face thinking about both Crete and Pura Manía having good taste, each band bringing their own style to the table covering the Screamers.
I don’t know man, I guess you could argue this new record sounds similar to their previous material. I think in terms of musical style, sure, maybe they haven’t deviated drastically. Personally, I think that’s an indicator of a band’s signature sound more-so than they’re rehashing. In many ways, I think Extraños Casos De La Vida Real is an adventurous, yet refined enhancement of the Pura Manía we were already familiar with. It just feels more ambitious, more anthemic, heavier, denser. The band always had catchy guitar leads, but on the last track “Las Locas Aventuras De Horacio Gómez,” there’s like a proper, real deal Rikk Agnew style guitar SOLO. The musicianship and approach to constructing to this record just about makes me feel envious. I don’t know if “matured” is the right way to describe this new record. Let’s face it, the artwork is still a bottle of booze with a label that reads “punk” pasted onto it, which is pouring all over the band’s logo. It reminds of movies like Repo Man where the cans in the fridge just say “BEER” on them haha. This cartoonish, almost absurdist imagery on all the band’s records with goofy, borderline dumb pop art aesthetic is so attractive to me. It’s like… punk as all hell, dude. Staring at cartoon brains with sunglasses and Rat Fink lookin’ critters while the band is bangin’ out these killer, musically sophisticated, over the top but still raw and hooky classic sounding punk tunes? YUH, it fuckin’ rules.
Anyway, I’ll quit gushing. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff