Oakland punk band, NOPES released their new EP, Fun Limbo, on May 26 via Magnetic Eye Records. The group, who dubs its sound "weird core", grinds out sneering spazz-rock incorporating melodies and extended instrumental passages not typically found in straightforward punk. Fun Limbo is the follow-up to NOPES’ full-length LP, Never Heard of It, which was named as one of the "Best Underground Garage Punk Albums of 2016" by Pitchfork.
While the majority of today’s "punk" bands come off as far too polished and safe, NOPES sound like a collision of early Hüsker Dü and The Replacements with nods to The Stooges and fellow Oakland rabble-rousers Lecherous Gaze. The band bases their grimey sound in the low, lumbering crunch of bands like Unsane and The Cows while demented vocals rant over the top of the crumbling racket. The sound of NOPES is one of a band playing by their own rules and having fun doing it.
Take a listen to their new EP below!