Bobo Bootleg cassette
I can admit when I’m wrong, because I fully judged Denton’s BOBO by their name and tape cover. I was steadying myself for something goofy, a tape made up of laugh tracks and bicycle horns, and I was way off. I am just not into clowns or facepaint or anything tagged “clowncore,” with BIG CLOWN being the one exception. BOBO gets a pass as well, because this tape fucking rules. Vocalist Polly has some serious pipes, recalling Tina Halladay of SHEER MAG and the angriest side of Corin Tucker’s vocals in HEAVENS TO BETSY. There are fast punk moments (especially on scorchers like “Diet Pepsi” and “The Bulrushes”), but much of the melodic bass lines and guitar interplay pulls from heavy ’70s riff rock and post-hardcore. Imagine THIN LIZZY putting out a record on Dischord; detuned and flanged guitar lines and jazz-funk bass patterns click into stuttering syncopated beats then chop out head-nodding riffs. This was such a nice surprise that I checked out the “clowncore” tag to see if maybe I was wrong about the genre (reflection is important). Nope, that shit is still completely stupid. Only BIG CLOWN and BOBO. Everyone else, please stop.