Since signing with Reach Out International Records, (or ROIR, label home to G.G. Allin, Bad Brains, MC5 and many others), Nashville garage-punk hustlers Bad Cop have been pounding the pavement taking their sporadic brand of youth-infused rock ‘n roll to as many cities as possible, giving them ample amounts of time to meet and collaborate with artists from around the country. This split tape precedes the band’s ROIR record’s debut, Harvest the Beast, due out this spring, and it opens with The Hussy.
This guy-girl duo out of Madison, WI effectively transmits a huge sound capable of referencing the purest dirty punk rock, stomp-inducing beats, and that classic guy-girl back and forth, tweaked to exude a maturity slightly unexpected, given the length of the songs and the tangible piss-and-vinegar element behind them.
Not one of The Hussy’s tracks on this particular outing lasts even a full minute and a half. The opener, "On The Cover," is the longest, clocking in at 1:29. The brevity, however, doesn’t stop The Hussy from cranking some impressive, trashy punk rock to make you move.
The Bad Cop side starts with two slightly logner tracks, "Daylight" and "Ready To Die," and the time-appropriate "Surf Song." The first two demonstrate a broad palette from the guys, offering an overall dark-toned vocal over music that constantly builds to a frenetic explosion of sorts, sometimes taking on the tone of classic troublemakers The Stooges, and, at times, more reflective of the moody psychedelic made famous by bands like The Doors.
"Ready To Die" opens with a trance-esque track reminiscent of Radiohead, evolving spastically into a textured vocals and rapidly ascending and descending guitar. It takes its time to build into a straightforward garage-rock inspired message of "I’ll have no fear when the end is here."
All in all this split serves as an awesome soundtrack to the summer – a lot of pleasant surprises and a diverse sound across the board. You can pick this split up courtesy of Bad Cop singer Adam Moult’s recently launched label Jeffery Drag Records NOW, or by emailing either adammoult@yahoo.com or jefferydragrecs@yahoo.com. They are limited to 200 copies, so get moving! –Jesse Baker
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