Every once in a while I seek comfort in a little melody, and this would be one of those days. Today's reason for singing is a split LP between Goatboy and Drunk. Ontario, Canada's GB start it off with a heaping 13 tracks of impassioned idealism in the form of melodic hardcore. Present on each track is a nice mix of snottiness and sincerity, which tends to remind me of fellow Northerners I Spy and Propaghandi, as well as other similar and obscure bands like The Krupted Peasant Farmerz and Quadiliacha. I didn't realize how long Goatboy has been around, but their discography cites their first sign of recorded life at 1990. I couldn't really say at this point if they're still active...
I dig Goatboy, but to be honest I bought this split because of Drunk-- a Norwegian rock-punk band of considerable brilliance, whose lineage branches off from such God-like entities as So Much Hate and Life...But How To Live It?. Sounding nothing like their forefather bands, Drunk's
modus is a more refined form of rock, but the punk pulse cannot be subdued. Sometimes it remains below the surface, driving the slower tracks with a tense energy; but at other times ("Ransom"; "Murder") it runs the show, pushing the tempo into a punk rock frenzy, and arresting the listener with a crescendo of clean, driving guitars, salient vocal melodies, and poignantly perplexing lyrics. Being so used to rougher forms of rock, it took a while for me to adjust to the Drunk's medium. I'm glad I didn't give up, because it's pure genius! The band's exquisite (and sole) full length,
"Company Tie," is widely available-- hopefully you will/have pick(ed) it up. And, if you haven't heard So Much Hate or Life... But How To Live It?, I don't know what else to say, but get thee
hence and
hence immediately! (You can also hear Drunk cover Leatherface's "Razorblades and Aspirin"
here).
I wanted this LP to be ripped at 320 kbps, so I did, but it was ever so slightly too big. Therefore:
Last time I posted Drunk, the download numbers were a little... modest, but the Song of the Week is all about... me, damn it! So I proceed with "Cut" for the week's selection, for the usual reason of its brilliance. The more rock-influenced nature of the band may put people off for the first listen, but great things are bound to happen with my favorite guitarist in the line-up (Roger from LBHTLI, So Much Hate, and I think Bannylist), and English lyrics that put many American/English bands to shame. The punk rebelliousness and abrasiveness is all there, it's just projected through the more wise lense of experience and therefore more subtle (or does experience make us wise, or just more confused? Lately I've been leaning toward the latter...).
