POP.1280 - "The Grid" 12"EP (Sacred Bones)

  Brooklyn's Pop.1280 have continued to dazzle weirdos (and me) with each awesome release this year.Their debut 7", which was self-released earlier this year, has been flipping sides on my turntable since it came in the mail.A radical mix of dark and ugly post-punk, kinda goth, sleazy rock, and AmRep style heaviness slithers throughout their music, with murky song themes and heaps of witty lyrical abuse.Their recent split 7" with Philly's equally impressive Hot Guts, is no pleasant day by the pool either.Pop.1280 fills their entire side with just a single track.A driving, "Damaged" era nod turned future-punk tune called "Neon Lights".Lyrics may or may not include things like "a thousand tits" and "the perfect hand job".Fantastic.

  These four creep-o cyberpunks return with an incredible and somewhat revamped six song 12"ep, this time for the prolific Sacred Bones label, entitled "The Grid".Easily their most direct and inventive output to date.They are still giving us what we want here, snarling bass dirge, dissonant and sleazy guitar wash, and those insensitive huffs and howls are all there in the foreground.The drum tone has taken a left turn into total industrial clatter.A good move on their part, considering that everything they are playing sounds like it's being played with a metal object.I hear a lot of Pussy Galore's bleak guitar-churning in this new batch of songs, as well as some SPK rattles and early Throbbing Gristle worship, naturally.The first track, "Step Into The Grid" pretty much sets an insanely sharp and gloomy tone for the entire record.A clanging treated cymbal carries a black torch right to the end.Things are obviously a bit different here, yet this is all quite cohesive in musical terms.There's not a single track that feels out of place, or estranged in any way, because every track feels that way.Blank.This is something for outsiders to be thankful for.A place for strange ones, jerks, and ne'erdowells to congregate and celebrate their decay, and it's called The Grid.Wow.

HOT GUTS / POP.1280 - "Split 7 inch" (Badmaster)

 Ornery Cirtter's early vote for split record of 2010, hands down.If you are already in tune with these seminal acts, then you know what kind of badass-ery to expect here.Hot Guts, who share members with FNU/Chickens, run their half into the ground with two very heavy and very awesome tracks.Both songs seem to come from two completely different worlds, as most of their work seems to do.Heavy on the blown-out riffing and syncopated drum pounding, they combine to create rich textures and vast landscapes.The vocals are clear and untreated, goth dipped hymns and borderline chants.The lyrics are hopeful yet spiteful tales, and rest perfectly in the walls of sonic power they build around them.An early Swans influence is present on all ends of the spectrum.
 The recording is a bit more polished than their Badmaster debut 7", but their clarity doesn't take away from the heady fuzz that surrounds them.If this is any insight tho their upcoming full length, we are all in for quite a treat.

  Pop. 1280 takes over with a song called "Neon Lights", a mid-paced downer that fills their entire side of the record.A dense and sputtering synthesizer dirge kicks things into overdrive, as brash a throaty lyrical upheavals coat the band's usual driving, percussive beat down like a crude oil poured over busted pistons.Their woozy, damaged guitar noodling is similar the sound of a rat drowning in a new york sewer.There is fair amount of power behind their ugly chord structures that keep things moving.Pissed Jeans' gloom, and Black Flag's drive are definitely obvious traits, but this is the sound of a band doing things on their own terms, and giving nor a fuck about stepping outside of their style, or even stepping into one to begin with.
 They just recorded their upcoming 12" entitled "The Grid", out soon on Sacred Bones.Both of these bands are quickly taking over 2010's heavy music bracket, and sure to make end of year lists all over the place.