Featured Releases: January 15, 2024

The Stupids: Slow on the Uptake 12” (Violent Pest Records) Slow on the Uptake is the new album from long-running UK hardcore band the Stupids. Originally formed in 1984, the Stupids were unique among their 80s UK punk/hardcore peers in that their sound was highly influenced by US hardcore. You can really hear that on their blistering first EP, 1985’s Violent Nun (see my staff pick on that record from a while back), but the Stupids stuck around until the end of the 80s, bringing in influences from west coast US skate punk on their later records. They reappeared in 2009 with a comeback LP that widened the sound even further, moving toward the big-guitar UK melodic hardcore/punk I associate with the label Boss Tuneage Records (who had reissued the Stupids’ back catalog in the intervening years). I liked that comeback LP, but I think Slow on the Uptake is even stronger, taking the early US hardcore influences they leaned on early on and seasoning them with the sounds the Stupids have mastered in the decades since. The result is a potent, song-oriented take on hardcore with all the ferocity of the early Dischord catalog, but with a newfound delicacy in the playing and songwriting, making furious but melody-tinged tracks like “Walnut Pacific” and “Come Into My Ear” sound like true masterpieces that synthesize years of work honing their craft. There’s also a surprising lyrical maturity here, which is most striking on the track “Neil’s Funeral,” whose lyrics are a thank-you letter written to attendees of the speaker’s deceased spouse’s funeral. With 8 songs in a brief 12 minutes, it feels like an update on the classic 80s US hardcore EP, losing none of that form’s excitement but finding room in it for all the wisdom (LOL) the Stupids have accumulated in the decades since that inspiring time.

Money: Punk Demo 7” (Discos Enfermos) Spain’s Discos Enfermos brings us the debut vinyl from this Bristol, UK punk group who has been banging out digital releases for a couple of years. When I checked out Möney, my first reaction was that they sound a lot like London’s Powerplant, particularly their soupy, underwater-sounding production style. As with Powerplant, it was difficult for my ear to make sense of Punk Demo at first, but repeated listens allowed me to parse the chaotic (but legible) knot of sound. The lyrics are split between English and Spanish, and for whatever reason the two Spanish-language tracks, “El Este” and “La Culpa” are the standouts for me, perhaps because they embody the polarities of Money’s sound. “El Este” is Möney at their fastest and most furious, while “La Culpa” finds them at their slowest boil, recalling (as the label notes) 80s Spanish post-punk like Paralisis Permanente. Unique, compelling stuff that gives more back the more attention you give it.

Money: S/T 12” (Beach Impediment Records) Not to be confused with the similarly-named band from Bristol, UK we also wrote about in this issue of the newsletter, this Money hails from Austin, Texas and plays furious metallic hardcore. Like Bristol’s Möney, Texas’s Money reminds me of another band from their part of the world: the Impalers. I found a note saying the two bands (Money and Impalers) share members, and that’s not hard to believe… it’s also a huge compliment, as for me Impalers are one of the very best hardcore bands of the past several decades. While the rhythm section’s relentlessness and the blistering lead guitars bring Impalers to mind, Money doesn’t sound exactly like them, peppering the furious metallic d-beat with parts that sound to me like straight up thrash metal (raw, punky thrash, but thrash nonetheless). It’s raw as fuck (three of these tracks originally came out via the current Kings of Noise, Roachleg Records), but bottom-heavy and powerful. The lyrics and artwork are also really interesting, set in a seedy underworld of violence and (especially) drugs, but in a cinéma vérité kind of way rather than a cartoony way. It’s well-developed, powerful, and compelling in a way that we’ve come to expect from every release on Beach Impediment Records.

Headcheese: Expired 12” (Neon Taste Records) We’ve loved every previous release from Headcheese, but I think Expired is these Canadians’ best one yet, amplifying everything I liked about their other records while honing and refining the most unique aspects of their voice. While it’s perfectly clear where Headcheese’s inspirations lie, they really sound like themselves on Expired, and it’s hard to imagine any other band delivering a track like “Special Forces,” for me the record’s standout track with its staccato rhythm and unforgettable vocal. The other tracks aren’t far behind, though, combining great songs with a loose, swaggering delivery that’s punk as fuck. While the rhythm section clearly appreciates the wild, lunging delivery of United Blood-era Agnostic front and early YDI, the guitarist’s riffs have a classic punk catchiness to them and the vocals drip with charisma, relying on an unlikely combination of off-the-beat wildness and a Dayglo Abortions-style way with a snotty, sinister melody. For me, Expired is one of the standout releases on one of current punk’s standout labels.

X-20 / Night Toy: Before the Green Flash cassette (self-released) This split cassette comes to us via the D4MT Labs camp, but it’s the furthest thing from hardcore punk I’ve heard from this crew, taking the 70s German influences we heard on Straw Man Army’s interlude tracks and their HMS cassette and going even further down the rabbit hole. Both X-20 and Night Toy remind me of the most out-there 70s German Kosmiche ("Cosmic”) music, including the early albums from Cluster, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream. It sounds like Night Toy relies solely on synthesizers, and rather than rhythmically-oriented, song-based music, their shifting soundscape approach and ability to wrench surprising textures from their instruments reminds me as much of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop as anything else. X-20 is a little more organic and earthy-sounding, with acoustic drums, field recordings, and horns evoking an alien landscape rather than the vastness of empty space that Night Toy brings to mind. With each group filling up a 20-minute side of the cassette, there’s a lot of music here, but it’s not really a zone-out type of thing because its always changing and moving in a way that holds your attention. Sonically, this tape is pretty far from Sorry State’s usual world, but it comes from our community and carries its spirit, and I doubt I’m the only punk who will really enjoy it.

Blue Dolphin: Robert’s Laffite 12” (Cleta-Patra Records) Robert’s Laffite compiles the recorded work of this mid-2010’s Texas punk group who released a handful of very limited cassettes while they were together. Sorry State carried a couple of those tapes, but they came and went before I could give them a close listen, so Robert’s Laffite feels new to me, as I’m sure it will to most of you. When I first sat down with Robert’s Laffite, I immediately felt like it evoked the pioneering early years of SST Records, not so much the Black Flag end of things as the Meat Puppets, Saccharine Trust, early Minutemen world. Some of that similarity is in the sound, as Blue Dolphin’s acid-fried country/rockabilly-type songs sound a bit like the Meat Puppets, and the singer’s sinister speak-sing style and cracked-up lyrical approach is a lot like Jack Brewer’s. More than just sonically, though, Blue Dolphin sounds like spiritual children of those SST bands, all three of whom seemed to be pushing fearlessly toward whatever artistic horizon lay ahead of them. However, while the SST groups generally worked at professional (if budget-priced) studios, Blue Dolphin’s production style is very lo-fi, evoking bedroom productions from the 80s UK DIY scene to the 90s US cassette underground and beyond. Like my favorite records from those eras, Blue Dolphin strikes a strong balance between traditional songcraft and more experimental approaches. In other words, if you have a record collection that includes groups like the Homosexuals, Desperate Bicycles, or even Sentridoh and Guided by Voices, you’re gonna be on board. Maybe I’m the rare case who has a deep appreciation for all that stuff, but I just love Robert’s Laffite, and if you share those frames of reference, I’m pretty sure you will too.