Punk rock
"First Four EPs." OFF! Keith Morris comes as close as punk rock can come to having an elder statesman. At the very least, he can lay claim to having been at the forefront of the movement.
As the original vocalist for the hugely influential Black Flag -- as well as the frontman for hard-core legends the Circle Jerks -- Morris and his cohorts helped build the entire West Coast underground scene.
Morris has remained active over the decades, playing Circle Jerk reunion shows and providing backup vocals for everyone from trash rockers The Bronx to multiplatinum Hot Topic kingpins My Chemical Romance.
At 55, Morris has every right to rest on his considerable laurels and saunter into his twilight years.
Rather than doing that, Morris has hooked up with members of Redd Kross, Burning Brides and Hot Snakes to form the awesomely monikered OFF! The upstart band recently released an EP vinyl box set, complete with custom artwork from renowned illustrator Raymond Pettibon.
It compiles 16 tracks of blunt-force trauma anthems that strongly recall the "loud/fast rules" ethics of punk's golden age. No track clocks in at over one minute; the production is unadorned and has a primal live setting feel; the songwriting and compositions just enough to get the point across.
This is, more so than any album or band has been able to accomplish in nearly 30 years, a plain and simple punk rock album that holds its own with the classics of the era. It's bracingly top-notch in its craft, and a reminder of how great this style of music can sound in the hands of master players.
Yeah, it's three chords, a buncha hollerin' and brutality through and through. It rules.
Props to the professionally polished turn that independent rock has taken over the last few years. This much-compressed emotional catharsis clears the cobwebs in ways that Grizzly Bear just can't.
OFF! is a caustic blast of classic punk fury, a potent reminder how the often-benign genre can still produce genuine thrills.
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