Making a five song EP is like licking your elbow. It sounds easy until you try to do it. Go ahead and try to lick your elbow. Unless you’re a yoga teacher, I’m guessing that you can’t. It must start strong, gain acceleration, maybe take a (very) short breather, and finish even stronger than it started. There’s no room for any filler that doesn’t add to the momentum. That’s why it’s hard. The Street Cat EP, a tight little set from Rome, New York’s No Complyance, comes pretty damn close to hitting that magic formula.
Overall, it features just the right combination of sneering, growling, shouting, speed, and bitterness…and thankfully, it never takes itself too seriously. The tight, live-sounding production (no overdubs that I can hear, anyway…) makes it feel like you’re sitting on a sofa swilling cheap beer and watching these four guys bash away. Generally, they’re reminiscent of old-school street punk along the lines of UK Subs, Exploited, the Adicts…hopefully you get the picture. And so, since you’re wondering how a good five-song EP is constructed, here we go…
“Guttermouth Song” qualifies as NSFW, as does pretty much every other song here. Everything is fast, but it’s tight and it never dissolves into a noisy blur. It has a very “live” sound without all the pitfalls that can come with that.
“Glasses Half Fucked” hits me like a somewhat slower, poppier Bad Brains. There are a few guitar breaks here and there that work well. I don’t know if the sentiment expressed in this little ditty is a good thing or a bad thing, but I’m not even sure if that matters.
“Downtrodden” seems to be more explicitly biographical. Loud, fast, and lots of “Whoa whoa whoa”’s make me think of Naked Raygun. Like elsewhere, there’s plenty of space for all the instruments to move around.
“GO 14” is almost the best song, not only because of the Nirvana-ish bass solo at the start but how quickly it kicks into high gear.
And with “Sick, Broke, and Alone” the band wisely saved the best for last…it’s an earworm that gives you more “Whoa whoa whoa”’s mixed in with the Nirvana/Pixie loud/quiet/loud/quiet dynamic. A great way to end.
Ty Dasher is a frustrated literary whore who will write just about anything if the price is right. He also plays guitar in Rufus and the Analog Nightmare. He lives deep in the hills and valleys of rural York County, PA.
I agree GO 14 is probably my fav. The bass solo is the best i’ve heard in a long time. Sick,Broke,and Alone is a real banger as well. These guys are true punk for sure.