OFF! - The First Four EPs

[Rae]

Holy shit, this is great! It's the new project from Keith Morris, notorious dreadlocked frontman of the Circle Jerks and early Black Flag (thus the name, get it?) and geriatric standardbearer of fast, loud, accessible hardcore, and it's surprisingly not only not embarrassing... it's killer! All of the riffs are immediate and none of the tracks overstay their welcome (the longest song in the set clocks in at just over a minute-and-a-half). Tracks like "Black Thoughts", "Panic Attack", and "Now I'm Pissed" are as catchy aggro anthems as any in his back catalog. I haven't had a chance to sit down with the lyric sheet yet but I didn't hear anything to cringe at, either. The rest of the band is made up of bassist Steven Shane McDonald from Redd Kross (awesome), the guitarist from Burning Brides, and the drummer from Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt. Although the two guys besides Morris and McDonald are younger, everything else about this could've come out in 1983 (right down to the Raymond Pettibon art), which I guess in some ways is a knock but should be really satisfying for anyone missing that era. Stone? Who else?



~Rae

[nobody]

I have the MP3s and dig 'em. Pre-ordered the box for the Pettibon art. (The thing comes as a set of 4 - 7 inchers.) And yeah, I agree it really is pretty much a flashback. Sounds just like what they were doing way back when. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to personal opinion, but I like it. I mean, if that early 80s hardcore sound is something you're into, you're not gonna find a group putting out anything else this solid of that ilk nowadays.

[Stone]

I like it. Early Circle Jerks it ain't, but still good stuff, Maynard.