Surplus 1980 – “Relapse In Response” – [Dephine Knormal Music]

Moe! Staiano makes the Tasmanian Devil look sloth-like.
Taste the frustration. Align your spine on the angles
of a fractured cymbal. Replace your heart with a
set of tom-toms. Connect the dots to amazing (Bay
Area) artists. Don’t stop. Start by helping out at the
door at Beanbenders a couple of decades ago. Release a
post-punk, pre-apocalyspe hell of an album. It feels
like UK in the 80′s, with precision and anger marching
in step with picket lines and horn charts. Guitar
often augments the percussion, spinning off sparks,
hell Andy Moor chips in on “Excellent Girl.” And ex-Ex
G.W. Sok is called on to do what he does best : rant.
Moe! works perfectly with Sok on “Let’s Put Another One
There.” Don’t stop there. Put a gas pedal on top of a
gas pedal on top of the drum pedal. Accelerate the
rhythms, pour kerosene on Ava Mendoza’s guitar,
compose like a pachinko machine having a breakdown
on the edge of society. Sing like an Adbusters magazine.
Embrace awkward time frames and awkward people. Moe! even
covers his beloved Diagram Brothers. A hyper happy album
to be reckoned with. Don’t stop. Playing. This.????

-Thurston Hunger