Record of the Week: Pura Manía: La Banda Es La Ley 12"

Pura Manía: La Banda Es La Ley 12" (Roachleg Records) If you’ve been paying attention to the Sorry State newsletter for a while, you know we are fanatics about Pura Manía. I think everything the band has released so far has gotten Record of the Week, and their latest album, La Banda Es La Ley (“The gang is the law”) continues the streak. What do I love so much about Pura Manía? For starters, I love the way they balance their musical ambition with being dirty, grimy, and fucking punk; they’ve got both feet planted in the gutter, but they’re looking at the stars! As an aging punk whose tastes have grown (arguably) more sophisticated over the years, yet remains addicted to punk’s rawness and energy, it’s like Pura Manía gets me. Their music is dense, each song a maze of criss-crossing melodies and rhythms, but thoughtfully—perhaps even obsessively—arranged, moving from part to part in ways that feel natural but not obvious. These are songs that reward close, attentive listening, yet they don’t demand that kind of listening—they’re not precious or pretentious, and they have the energy and directness to tickle the pleasure centers of my punk brain from the very first listen. The individual components of each song—the melodic lead guitar lines, the driving but hooky bass lines, the vocals that move from searing and punk to kinda silly and cartoonish (those rolled R’s!), the infrequent but thrilling eruptions of synth—are so exciting on their own (and frequently have me saying, “whoa! that part was sick!” when I’m listening), but they’re supercharged when they’re stitched together into these miniature punk symphonies. Ditto for the album as a whole, which climaxes with the closing track, “Amor de Coladera (Veneno Y Glam).” This song sounds like nothing Pura Manía has attempted thus far, with a kind of woozy, sun-bleached rhythm and a lead guitar line huge enough to power a hit Oasis single. It might have been too much, but vocalist Cabeza balances it out with his most outrageous and punk performance on the record (really taking the rolled R’s to the next level LOL). The song also has a climactic bridge that almost brings a tear to my eye. You might call it a guitar solo because the guitarist takes center stage and it’s in the spot where a guitar solo usually sits, but it’s not just a bunch of wanky, show-y bullshit… it builds upon and elaborates the song’s central melody in a thrillingly sophisticated way. Pura Manía’s guitarist has the chops to be a classical composer, yet instead of wearing a tuxedo, he’s pouring all that thought and feeling into these grimy-ass punk songs. I fucking love it. And just like with the band’s last record on Roachleg, the artwork is as exciting, innovative, and completely fucking punk as the music, with a stunning jacket hand-screened on chipboard and a risographed lyric insert. Another brilliant and essential record from this band that never repeats themselves and always finds new ways to raise the bar.