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This is the third release in a series of benefit cassette (and digital) releases, all featuring covers of music that is sometimes brazenly obscure, and this one is my favorite of the lot.
Once a Ramone always a Ramone, one supposes, but this is closer to Southern California chug-core than gritty Queens punk. Nonetheless, a fun time.
A return, and the word to use is "unabated." Their pummeling approach may seem to lack nuance, but it's not about how the punches are landing, it's about the pauses in between that make this measured approach to aggression particularly satisfying.
The guitar and bass strings are vibrating cosmically, the drums eat up the miles, an ethereal chorus swirls about. It's not a new formula, but it's done very well, and if you need to drive for sixty miles without noticing the time go by, here you go.
There is a spectacular video for one of the songs on here, and there will be more, and by now the band's reputation rests on these videos, but I suggest you give this a listen to hear exactly how OK GO have mastered the art of symphonic power pop.
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