OFF!

Spin Magazine is streaming the new OFF! self titled album online here: http://www.spin.com/articles/hear-offs-ferocious-self-titled-lp . It, no shocker, is wonderful. It is thirty minutes long, and just perfect. OFF(I'm skipping the exclamation point from here on out) is something of a punk rock supergroup. They are The Traveling Willburys of power chords. Okay, not exactly. OFF is Keith Morris of seminal California hardcore band The Circle Jerks/ Original vocalist of Black Flag on vocals, Steve McDonald from Red Cross/ Red Kross on bass, Dimitro Coats of The Burning Brides on guitar, and Mario Rubacalba of Rocket from the Crypt/ Hot Snakes on drums. Sixteen songs in thrirty minutes,. You do the math. West coast hardcore punk rock is a super big deal to me. The first cd I purchased for myself was a compilation cd called Seven Inch Wonders of the World from CA's SST Records. That night I also watched Penelope Spheeris' Decline of the Western Civilization (which featured the Circle Jerks), and that was just the end for me. With this album Morris seems to be waxing philosophically about growing old a bit. In the punk rock "scene" they are a bit of an anomoly. No fashion haircuts or pretty choruses. No songs about wanting to date the pretty girl in your high school even though you are a thirty year old man. Just discontent in spades. It will burn your ears off.