You have to wonder about the legalities of putting an angry depiction of Hello Kitty on the cover of your CD and calling it Hello Black Cougar Shock Unit. And you have to wonder about the legalities of putting four other slightly altered Sanrio characters on the back of your CD too (Chococat’s pissed, Badtz Maru has a black eye, Keroppi looks scared to death and Sweet Coron is depressed).
But there’s no denying that it’s funny.
This is a bit of an odd one because this seven-tracker is coming out at the same time as Black Cougar Shock Unit’s full-length album, Godzilla Tripwire. Clearly the Atlanta-based quartet ended up with too much material when they were locked in a studio with Man… Or Astroman?’s Jim Marrer. Nonetheless, this release works slightly better than the actual album because BCSU aren’t a band that mix it up too much – sticking as they do to driven, passionate punk rock that’s a little rough around the edges and under-produced – and small doses are easier to appreciate.
This’ll go down well with No Idea Records/ Leatherface/ Naked Raygun fans but it’s worth the purchase alone for the utterly venomous “House On Fire.” This particular track is filled with such unabashed loathing for scenesters and hipsters you want to find out what vocalist Alex Ulloa looks like just so you can follow him to a show one night to see how many people he beats up. Lyrics include: “I’m here to say fuck you everyone for all the work you’ve helped pull undone / Go fuck yourselves and the scene that you rode in on / Jaded kids and fashion kings spoon-fed experience from TV / Go fuck yourselves and the soap opera that you live in… Try your best to be unique as long as it brings popularity / Go fuck yourselves and the other unique carbon copies… Another day I start again / Another chance to clear my head but when I see you fuckheads I get so goddamned pissed off / Fuck you.”
Bitter eh? Love it.
www.blackcougarshockunit.com
www.thenewestindustry.com
Rae Alexandra is a limey. She has been a music journalist and sub editor since 2001, working mainly for the UK’s Kerrang! and Q Magazines. She recently relocated to San Francisco to finish writing a novel about drunken punk rockers. Feel free to send job offers, insults and photos of emo boys to: rae[at]kaffeinebuzz.com.
