Scraped off of the moldy face of Sunday’s newspaper comics, NEO NEOs’ grime-laden resuscitation of early 80s hardcore punk is a flickering beacon of moth-attracting light in the seedy recesses of a Ralph Bakshi cityscape. Despite the NEOS’ plural moniker, Minneapolis’ Connie Voltaire is the songwriter and instrumentalist behind the project’s third cassette release of the year, OEN NIGHT IN BASEMENT, a free-jazz answer to HxC that injects the atonal primitivism of Half-Japanese’s Half-Gentleman, Not Beasts into the trebly assault of Bad Brains. Percussive grunts of guitar growl with onomatopoeic abandon atop tipsy blast-beats, creating a disorienting atmosphere perfectly primed for Voltaire’s bratty delivery, dripping with sardonic charm.
What makes OEN NIGHT IN THE BASEMENT such a compelling listen is its careful balance of avant-garde innovation and self-aware humor. Faux-anthem “Punk Is Outta Control”, malt shop strummer “Ballad of the Dweeb and DAW diss track “Kissies For You” all exude ironic [adult swim] iconoclasm while still providing sincere, solo moshpit-inducing vibes. Make sure to stick around for the curdled Minutemen lead guitar riffage of standout cut “Keep On Walkin’”
Keep it 100. Keep it PVNK.
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