It’s a Setup Bleeding Out at Recess EP
Spokane, Washington’s IT’S A SETUP played their first show in 2024, which makes the confidence on this EP genuinely impressive. Eight chaotic hardcore songs in ten minutes, screamo vocals pitched high enough to read as almost androgynous, and a low end heavy enough that the speed never comes at the expense of the weight. They’ve got both, and they swing between the two with the kind of powerviolence tempo shifts that keep you off balance. You can hear a little IN/HUMANITY in the DNA, that same fast and furious streak, but IT’S A SETUP keeps things blunt and right in your face. It’s not the heaviest record ever made, or the fastest, or the screamiest, but it sits in a really good spot that’s fucking infectious, and the production is dialed in exactly right for these songs. The politics are just as sharp: fuck the NRA, fuck the arms trade, fuck religion in government, fuck the tough-guy posturing, fuck the elites, and fuck the borders that trick people into forgetting we’re all the same tribe. These kids have their heads screwed on straight, and it gives me some hope for the future.