back circa 50 years ago, many bands worshipped at the altar of the Velvet Underground while obviously wanting to carve out their own sounds, Modern Lovers, Talking Heads, Television, other bands like Suicide and Pere Ubu pounding on the meat of their idols like boxers in a meat cooler, gripping the hearts of their idols until the seams on the leather punching bags split and the blood splattered in new directions...this band likely gripping the hearts of those East Coast bands at the beginning of this set, but quickly they squeeze so hard the hearts explode again, this band's hands bloodied and dripping, they opt for art, fingerpaint the mirrors and entrances, smear palms across drywall and windows, roll knuckles in the pan and splatter like Jackson Pollock over the room until the influences are unrecognizable...maybe moving toward the directions of post-hardcore bands when the early ones first calmed the beasts to let the energy rise in other ways, this band moving into territories between bands that seem so different, maybe even clearing smog from bridges between bands, exploring territories in the chasms between Pere Ubu and Joy Division, maybe even hints of Big Boys and Throbbing Gristle showing in the designs, the smeared influences of VU rising in the sounds, the noises channelling into some hints of Tubeway Army or even Husker Du...of course if influences at all, only a chunk of how they approached music showing here...the windows from the buildings from the beginning showing through haze ...all these comparisons just embarrassing attempts to describe the songs on this album. -- winch

 

"Destruction! Invention! Rebirth! Once upon a time there was Honor Role who deconstructed midwest hardcore and carved out a path for what eventually would become mathrock. Combining empathy wrapped in anger, a following generation would use this template to birth post-hardcore and a 2nd wave emotional music. A bit later came Labradford who were atmospheric scientists creating pulsating soundscapes bathed in drone. Their music was so devastatingly unique that Kranky willed themselves into existence to release their debut for which this historic label was built upon and continues to lead the way in experimental music. I can't help but to include Hard Copy among this kind of revelatory innovation. They are subtle shapeshifters of synth driven post-punk. Singular vocals act as a secondary percussion. Bass lines double as a metronome heartbeat. Guitars zigzag inside a monochromatic prism. Linear drums hammer the band's abstract narrative into a carefully crafted double-helix staircase spiraling up into ambitious avant-garde territory. Cantankerous poetry minus the Mancunian snarl of Mark E Smith behaves as a modern day deadbeat descendant making good. In short, making very very good. RIYL the kind of bands who have no interest in grabbing a spotlight and are more likely to kick out the bulb to avoid it completely." -Tracy Wilson (Courtesy Desk)