Seattle – Big Ups is a four-piece band from New York whose name is ideally indicative of the group’s future. Unlike the band name, however, Eighteen Hours of Static is not so literal and cannot fill almost an entire day with loud, senseless feedback – what a relief. The band’s debut full-length album will be released January 13 via Dead Labour Records. While it might not be full static, this album’s got an aggressive punch that can bring you straight back to 1980s New York punk (if, of course, you were around then).
It does, however, offer more. When Big Ups first started playing together at NYU they were pretty much a bunch of punks who arguably could have been a Descendents cover band if you didn’t know that none of the songs they were playing were actually by the Descendents. Maturity has benefited these guys and they now are producing music with a more modern sound that could easily be played up against the likes of Parquet Courts or the Orwells. It’s got that same popular accessibility without abandoning its brash roots.
“Goes Black” somehow makes standard rhyming not only acceptable but also very enjoyable. Typically continuous obvious rhymes (think “fast” and “past,” “life” and strife,” “hold” and “old”) might cause some serious lyrical cringing but vocalist Joe Galarraga delivers his lyrics with such a basic punch that draw on such elemental punk it’s hard to not relish. The message behind the lyrics and the rhyming offers an introspection that old fans of Big Ups would find unfamiliar – it might be unfamiliar but it’s certainly welcome.
Then there are songs like “Wool” that wholly abandon aggression and opt for a more subdued approach to songwriting. It’s a simple sound that relies on the listener’s emotional vulnerability to musical purity. No one could ever confuse this with “easy listening” but it definitely emphasizes the grander changes that Big Ups have certainly gone through since they first started. It’s almost as if Big Ups’ demos and previous releases were true dress rehearsals for this debut performance (in this case, debut album, of course). While the rough drafts were great in their own term, Eighteen Years of Static is a true performance and will make a fan return for more.
Eighteen Years of Static will be available on January 13 on the group’s bandcamp and on Dead Labour Records. In the meantime, they’ll be playing shows in the New York area – check out dates here.
