$5.00
Hot Guts / Pop. 1280
Split
This pairing joins New York City creepers Pop. 1280 and Philadelphia misanthropes Hot Guts. Two bands, that hold great things in the years to come, bring two sides of dark, brooding post-punk with wire tight rhythm sections. Almost industrial, with enough pop-driven momentum to make you wanna move. Songs you will remember after you've walked away from the turntable. A refreshing sentiment indeed, given the current climate of “boss & toss“ 7-inches being released by the truck load.
For starters, Pop. 1280 hail from the same pool that bands like Twin Stumps and Pink Reason, to name a couple, inhabit. So you can get an idea of where they are coming from. Here, they offer one long trek into the void called Neon Lights, which tops out at 5 & 3/4 minutes! A perfect introduction or a compliment to their self-released 7-inch from last year. These four New Yorkers excel at creating uneasy, pulverizing downer rock jams, but with a pop sensibility that bounces. Monotone & maniac vocals ride a textured, menacing racket-laced anthem all the way to the end… The end of what?! Look for their debut full length out on Sacred Bones later this fall.
Hot Guts return to Badmaster with two songs about paranoia and male prostitution. Hot Guts debut 7-inch seemed to inhabit a completely different landscape with each track and this offering is no different. With dense guitars and pounding drums fighting to push their deep, goth-tinged vocals into the foreground, you can easily recognize a myriad of familiar influences. Pretty much everything recorded in the years between ’78 & ’82 when post-punk was cresting, but they always manage the deft trick of incorporating, never emulating any of it. Revisionism. Not revivalism. You might feel a slight pang of nostalgia here, but do not be fooled. In their world, there is no future, no past. Only the present and it isn’t a very pretty place. Just when you think these songs might collapse in on themselves, they burst forward to sear the flesh off your cold, cold heart and just as fast, its over… leaving you wanting more. A bunch of very straight faced dudes. One of which, I feel I should mention, is from FNU Ronnies/Chickens. They are currently working on their full length which, I for one, can’t wait to get my grubby, little hands on.
— Badmaster Records