ISS, Alles 3rd Gut (Sorry State, 2019)
I would love to be a true punk. I saw one the other day. He looked very consistent. I looked like a dork: skinny jeans, owl-themed socks, winter coat. My Black Flag tattoo is all but faded. He knows where he stands and he’s a model anarchist. I work in an office and spend my money on records. I thought: I’ll never be a true punk.
But then I thought about ISS. They sample pieces of older punk songs and play on top of ‘em, creating songs that are no less vicious, fast and sharp. Their sound is crispy and confrontational, with bass and drums up front often leading the attack. Their lyrics are scathing nuggets of funny vitriol, and I don’t know if they just live in a way that’s just very similar to mine or they are part of a conspiracy to make me feel really self conscious about my life, but instead of riling me up about injustice, they seem to prefer to sarcastically tear apart each one of my little neuroses, passions and stupid fucking hobbies. And it feels great.
This is ISS' 3rd long player and by now the singer Rich sounds so comfortable he’s letting it all out: songs about being 34 and not wanting to go on tour anymore, or pointy zingers at Sheer Mag and Barron Trump, or a whole meldown song dedicated to a roommate do not surprise me—but this time he went even deeper into his (my) psyche to dig out fantasies of being an undiscovered great writer, meatheads listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast, hating your pets, hating your kids, aromatherapy and even some more unsettling episodes where you don’t know if he’s seriously talking about depression or the joke’s just going over your head.
To be honest, Alles 3rd Gut might not be better than their first and second LPs, but it’s still one of the only records that managed to take the KBD spirit from 1977 and credibly update it to this day. And it’s made by a band that, because their music is funny, some people refuse to take seriously, but to me, in all honesty, is one of the (many) best coming out of the punk landscape in the last 10 years. If you don’t agree, you might be more like them than you’d like to admit.
Click here to listen to Alles 3rd Gut on Bandcamp.
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