Goolagoon – “Life Of Crime”
As I’ve said before, in the last year or so, the young bands I review fall into two categories.
Bands influenced by early, traditional punk or bands that align themselves with hardcore and are influenced by the more abrasive metal.
Goolagoon is a young band I’ve reviewed before and much was made by me, last time of their tag “power violence.” Described as “a raw and dissonant sub-genre of hardcore.” And to my ears, is closely related to grindcore and D-beat.
Mainly, this band has short songs that are brutal, hard and fast. Songs that have no frills and waste no moments; and stabs and wallops you hard. (So I guess “Power Violence” is a pretty apt term.)
And though all of them sound different, I can hear how Goolagoon fits in with a lot of other great, young bands I’ve reviewed recently- like Crystal Methodist, D- Sagawa, Horrible Earth, Exile and Neighborhood Shit.
These bands and their music are all awesome, potent stuff.
This is uncommercial, no bullshit, true, raw, words and emotion- and though I think the music is closer to metal than punk, the feeling and approach captures the pure, true essence of punk.
Let’s drop a quarter in the jukebox and let this record spin:
“Big Pink Loser” springs forth in a headlong rush like the sound of a locomotive crashing into the side of a mountain. “Every fucking day I try/ Close my eyes, clear my mind/ Sick of feeling sick each night/ Why can’t I leave this behind?/ Fuck/ Get the fuck out of my life.” This song is a purge of negative energy but my response to it is all positive as I feel this is a powerful, exciting song to witness.
“No Weenies Allowed” follows with a few monolithic, crashing chords at doom speed, but soon were rocketed into a stop and go of hardcore taken at the speed of light. “The kids had their say and the shit fuckin’ sucks/ If you’re looking for unity you’re shit out of luck…fuck elitist stuck up punks.” This song barrels along stomping on your eardrums and cliques but ends up inviting everyone in.
“No Luck/Fucked Up,” starts out “Help Wanted” with a burst of energy and then a pause. “Perpetuate consistent situations of hell/ Promises of getting better ain’t holding up well/ Swallow every pill, drink every bottle on the shelf/ Do whatever you can to keep fucking yourself.” Sounds a bit like Slimedog’s shopping list but more like an overdrive of passion and guts slamming against substance abuse and its squalor. “Life sucks/ Drink up.” This song doesn’t suck, in fact it’s great. Cheers!
After SpongeBob makes an appearance “Survival Of The Idiots” erupts. “Fuck what they say ’cause you just want more/ Doesn’t matter if your dead as long as you aren’t poor/ Landfill world.” Some doom-y bass clanging along with some feedback guitar breaks down in the center, whetting your desire for more aural destruction. And it does arrive like a power surge upon your skull in this terrifyingly, great tune.
“Life Of Crime” is a song that’s energy ricochets like a pinball machine in flames and is a diatribe against rape and using women as property, “Your smiles carries sick intentions/ What a fucking nice guy/ Death to every egotistical prick in the world, Who think it’s okay to push and pull every girl.” Goolagoon is fronted by a girl named Lily and I’m betting she wrote those words. “Want some action?/ Here’s our hands around your fucking necks.” This song is violent and chaotic, strong and intense and my favorite on this EP. With the words “Fuck Right Off” and some pounding, metal chords may be how the song ends. But it’s sounds and sentiments are fucking right on.
I guess punk has always been known for its honesty and metal, for the most part, for its unpretentiousness. But the young punk and hardcore/metal bands popping up in the last year or so, seem to me to be the most honest, straight to the point, brutally intense bands I’ve come across in the last five years of doing TNB.
Goolagoon, and the other young bands I write about have an uncompromising sound. They play it fast and quick, true and strong, real and with substance. And I can only feel that this is their take on life, as well. That they’re not going to be fooled by the bullshit that the older generations have been fooled by, that they’re not gonna be sideswiped by nonsense but go for what’s not only good for themselves but also, for everyone.
And their music reflects this awareness- as art does reflect life, better than anything else.
These young bands are the present and the future of music, albeit music of the underground, which has always been the best music going around anyways. And these young minds are the future of life and I couldn’t feel more happier that our lives and music will be in their hands.
And you can’t expect to be more reasonably happy, than to have their music in yours.
(Slimedog)
