Posts tagged Black Congress

Over the years, we’ve fondly enjoyed the evolution of one Mr. Beau Beasley – whose No Talk nom de rock is KGBeasley – and indeed we were a late comer to his catalog, which no doubt extends backwards further than an F-350 pickup. From the blinding grind of Insect Warfare to the to the light-hearted shredertainment of Torches of Fury to the humidity eviscerating massiveness of Unholy Mountain, very few leatherettes warm our heart like this big smile of a man whose mantra is “do stuff. put out records. repeat.” Already, in the month or so since this 7″ was released, he’s coaxed the entire No Talk cabal along with Chris Ryan (Black Congress) into a fantasia extension of his liner-note credited role: “KGBeasley: Guitar/Vocal/Leather.” The result has been the Homopolice, a noise punk act blindfolded and gagged in the iconography of a violent leather-clad homoeroticism.

Now, we don’t listen to much punk that hasn’t been sugar-coated for our protection, but we do know enough to draw the message parallels between the political songwriting of the (anti-)Reagan era with ATTN NEOCONS: EAT IT flavor of patriotic liberty biscuits that No Talk embodies.

A-Side “Invade Iran” cuts a playful jingoism, fighting wars we don’t know the reason for and leaving blood on foreign sands “till the oil is in our hands.” No Talk is right that America can’t really get enough petroleum, and we’re not just talking about our own Hummerzine. The entire lifestyle of all of us is built on hydrocarbons right down to the plastic polybag and black vinyl of the record itself. And, in mocking agreement with the same notion that somehow Drill Baby Drill is the answer to securing America’s future prosperity, the song gets all imperative form of the verb on the need to invade Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Iran. (Note to any neocon think tankers who will still have enough of a paycheck in two weeks to afford looking at the internet, these are all terrible countries to invade for their oil. There are much lower hanging fruit that we could get with a better cost/payout ratio and indeed most of them we wouldn’t even have to invade – we could use the CIA.)

Speaking of which, there’s not much guesswork in what’s going on in B-side “Fear the CIA.” Now, we think we it’s pretty fair to be wary of any three-letter combination that is responsible for bringing the phrase “Extraordinary Rendition” into our collective lexicon. However, we’ve always had a soft spot in our heart for the way, in the 50s and 60s, our spooks used to send Dizzie Gillispie and The State Department Band to foreign capitals as a distraction to orchestrate coups. International intrigue just isn’t that classy anymore. Nowadays, they’d prolly try and hoodwink the President of Yemen with Kid Rock and Toby Keith.

No Talk’s lyrics are blunt, more machete than scalpel, and the music matches. It has that signature Chris Ryan/Dead City Sound (er) sound – guttural and dark; heavy and fast, dragging the fullness of the production along at a clip that most punks don’t really have the chops or the inclination to attempt (the ridiculous greased lightning guitar solo in CIA, for example). There’s something else pretty unique about this record too, atleast in our experience: it’s actually political. Granted, you could write this whole thing off as manufactured tongue-in-cheek role-playing, but this is some of the only local music worth its placard that we’ve come across in years that makes so overt a criticism of the direction our country is headed, especially pure pith poem towards the government itself. There are exceptions of course, like Lennie Briscoe’s “I am An American” and Hollywood Black’s Crooked Shepherd EP, but given the general direction of our nation and the fairly ubiquitous liberalism (or atleast anti-Bushism) of the local scene as a whole, it is sort of startling/dissapointing that the Baby Boomers of all people (you know, the folks whose parents went to the Moon and won World War Two, while they on the other-hand invented the SUV and pills to make your dick hard) continue to show us up when it comes to political consciousness and music. Sucks doesn’t it? Kind of the opposite of No Talk. Recommended.

Fortunately, No Talk isn’t just a one night stand in the dark corner of Mary’s or a presidential pre-emption Doctrine that sputtered out after a single invasion. Though this 7″ in particular is already sold out, this week’s Grey Ghost is a generous allotment of recordings by the band (as always, Grey Ghost recordings are a measly $2 and are available for a single week only at Domy Books). There is also alleged to be a second 7″ in their near future. Don’t wait for us to review it when it comes out – go buy it.

UPDATE: The next No Talk 7″ is available NOW. There are only ten copies, all at Sound Exchange.  GO. NOW.