Pissed Jeans - The Best Of Sub Pop 2009-2013: "Live" At The BBC (Album Review)

 

Pissed Jeans - The Best Of Sub Pop 2009-2013: "Live" At The BBC

(2014)


My copy: 2014 press by Sub Pop.


This is a live 45 limited release from 2014’s record store day that seems to have mostly flown under the radar given its average resale price of ~5 dollars USD.  Though this “limited” release is cheap and seemingly passed over regularly (perhaps for its bland and fairly confusing artwork/presentation) It contains four electrifying performances as they were recorded live in the BBC studios. 

Looking at the cover you’d be excused for believing that this would be a compilation of several Sub Pop bands, but noise-rock fans should rejoice and allow themselves to be swept away by thunderous, booming drums, erosive noise-cluster-bomb-guitar, and Matt “Korvette” Kosloff’s visceral shouting on intro track “Romanticize Me.” Their classic single “False Jesii Pt. 2” from breakout album King Of Jeans is done justice: upped in tempo and delivered with an even more palpable disgust than on its home record. 

The mid-tempo death-march of “Cafeteria Food” descends through sludge-adjacent guitar tones via monotone, deadpan vocals. The bass rarely stands out save for the end of track 3 where it wobbles away into a bed of effects before finale “Teenage Adult” seems to channel aggressive metal forefathers such as Motorhead, etc. The difference is in the sharper, unconventionally jagged riffing of Pissed Jeans, as everything stands just out of frame enough to distinguish them from your typical hardcore/punk bands. Their flair for texture is somewhat misrepresented here, and the songs are quite short (though sweet).

Given that the production is as tight as it is, it would have been nice to hear some longer, more adventurous material or perhaps some cuts from earlier records such as Shallow, though I suppose that would break from both the Sub Pop theme and the date range of the record’s title. Still, this is a great and accessible find not just for Pissed Jeans fans, but for noise-rock connoisseurs alike.

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