BLACK DOG - SEWN INTO CONFUSION 7"
Maybe 10, 15 years ago, the memetic monks of the d-beat worldmind fired their decree down the psychic wire: "ALL D-BEAT MUST SUCK!" And, it must be said, some heretic hold-outs scattered throughout Latin America and Japan notwithstanding, the shoe-string antennae picked up the frequency and a resonant harmony was mostly achieved.
They let Washington DC and, eventually, Florida splice in endless breakdowns, and the vocal delay got cranked to indecipherable levels. The writing on the wall and the well running dry, LVEUM even started putting out Americans! They had blokes singing in Esperanto and then all of a sudden you can get LUMPY & THE DUMPERS records on five continents! Maybe things were tinged or essenced with natural flavors, but your odds of coming across 100% raw, unadulterated d-beat hardcore punk were essentially nil.
And maybe the lesson was simple: just don't let anyone from the US make d-beat, or possibly punk period, for like 3-7 years, atonement for not gatekeeping DISCHARGE or BASTARD from HardLore hard enough! Leave it to the Argentinian expats, or, in this case, the Canadians.
BLACK DOG fucking smokes. Unholy, unrelenting, uncompromising. The best record Iron Lung has put out in years. Blast it loud and often, let no one in dark blue 501 Levis within 50 miles (that's 80 anna half kms for the rest of you).
Released by Iron Lung (a label I love and respect, but please direct all confused hate mail to anyonecanbethebug@riseup.net, not da rag), listen here: https://ironlungrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sewn-into-confusion-lungs-286
Fittz