State Laughter

The stale air of punk is pungent. I am a lifer and most definitely NOT a "things were better back in my day" person....but in peak internet voidworld, a vast majority of punk (and the world at large) bores me. It's ironic as well, because it seems like there is such a renewed interest in it...there are more kids at shows then I've ever seen! So much posturing, so much theatre. "Why be something you're not?" And all this under the guise of being "mutant". My brother in christ you are not a mutant, you are just bored. The same xeroxed military tropes, the same break downs, the same cornballs walking like anthropomorphic frogs across the pit. Like go Xerox some garbage (literal), or not have drums at all. Make something sexy or ugly, but like enough of the cosplay. The promise of the internet was a free world outside of society and capitalism....well that didn't work. Ask more people that don't look like you to play music. Embrace whatever makes you uncomfortable abut yourself, it's probably pretty cool...This is not an attack and not universal and is all said with love, because I love punk and punks. And I love when people something beautiful about themselves and embrace it and see others joy from what they've created. I don't think that comes from posturing.

All that being said, Nurse is not this. Just as I wrote that Esoteric Lore was a pivotal moment, birthing the modern Atlanta scene, Nurse was this wild step child that came in and just destroyed eveerything on site. You didn't have to do some goofy rehash skanking back and forth, because your body lost control of itself when they played. It made me want to be violent. Not towards anyone, just exuding violence....but as dance. Its goddam dance music. I'd sweat a little bit and then just step back and watch all these people smiling at what my friends were creating. Crystallized time. Time compressed into a memory that could be folded away and examined at will....or forgotten after the ecstatic moment had passed. Either path is acceptable. And it's not just great hardcore, its creative melodically and rhythmically. Dave and Andrew's interplay could make some of Bryan's riffs seem like they were shifting when they weren't. It references 80's death rock/goth stuff, but in a unique way. textural, moments to breathe...no instrument more or less important to the totality of sound. I think this record is the best representation of their sound and while they were most definitely a band to witness live, this is an amazing document of what they were (are). Beautiful artwork by Jeremey McCleary. 5 years in the making.