Honeys

Pissed Jeans are the finest of the noise makers on the Sub Pop label, no offense meant to Mudhoney (still making golden records). Honeys is a magnificent follow up to the epic King of Jeans. Honeys finds the 4some experimenting with sounds that could have been lifted from Flipper or Black Flag. Brad Fry has really outdone himself, matching Greg Ginn chop for chop, and Matt Korvette's lyrics rage against the mundane existence of cube dwelling, the every day monotony of a working life we all must succumb to in order to pay the mortgage. Whether ranting about 'Cafeteria Food,' or fearing ending up living like an old maid in a 'Cat House,' Pissed Jeans make navigating the scuzzy bureaucracy of everyday life a little more bearable. This is grand stuff and I for one can't get enough of 'Teenage Adult,' the final track and in my opinion high water mark, not only for Honeys, but for Pissed Jeans. Honeys is an essential listen and front-runner for my favorite album of 2013.

So the year obviously is 2013 but listening to this it may as well be 1980. When punk stopped trying to be so super poppy and push itself onto the public's consciousness, bands like Black Flag, The Adolescents, and The Germs decided there was art in imperfection and humanity in flaw. This sort of recording really died a horrible death around the mid-nineties when crystalline production techniques almost swept that sound out of the public's mind for good. Thank god there are still labels like Matador and bands like Pissed Jeans to remind us all that there is something pure driving their musical aspirations. Every song has something catchy or redeeming about it, with excellent axe-manship and better than most lyrics and vocals. If you weren't told, you would swear this was some obscure punk band from the 80's with a close kinship to the L.A. scene. I didn't really have any intentions or expectations when I bought this album and I now listen to it three times a week for sheer raw energy and hooky punk rock goodness. This is not only great to fill a void left 33 years prior however, this satisfies a very primal need in musical taste. I said to a friend recently, "Wow, an old school punk rock tune now sounds universally timeless". She agreed.

If I had to describe this album, I'd have to say that it takes 80s hardcore, 90s hardcore, early grunge, throws them in a blender, hits puree, and then seasons it with a dash of stoner rock. It yields this very original(and incredibly addictive) blend. I've listened to "Honeys" now about a dozen times and finally decided to take the plunge and purchase it. It's just too damn good.Highlights: every track, really.

This is an awesome lo-fi hardcore gem!In respect to the band if your here you already know Pissed Jeans. What I want to talk about is the vinyl release. Too many times these days bands are recording digitally and just dropping that digital information right on vinyl.This sort of makes the whole effort of releasing the music on an Lp pointless.I'd like to say these guys have done an amazing job with this one. The vinyl is dead quiet when it's supposed to be (they don't really leave much room between tracks anyway) and clear and true the rest of the time.It's a great record and well worth it!