Thursday, February 24, 2011

Night Birds - "Midnight Movies" review


No Way Records
Feb. 13, 2011

Rating: 5/5

I was funneled into being a Night Birds fan because of my prior fondness for The Ergs!, Psyched To Die, Hunchback, Full of Fancy, etc. Their first two 7''s (Art of the Underground 2-songer and S/T 5-songer) were a great introduction to this band. I loved the Dead Kennedys/Adolescents/Agent Orange-influences. I loved the skate/surf-punk influences. Midnight Movies takes all that and delivers a 7'' that pays homage to the theme of late-night horror B-movies; something bands like the Misfits and the Groovie Ghoulies built and thrived off of.

The first tune, "Midnight Movies," lays out the feel for the 7'' (or tape, if you were as lucky as I was to score one of those babies). It's all about wanting to go out, staying up all night and thirsting for "all the things I'm not supposed to see," vocalist Brian Gorsenger sings. It's a nostalgic tune for me. I loved (and still love) gory, overdone B-movies. A more recent one that comes to mind is Black Sheep (not with Chris Farley). It takes you back to simpler times. Remember those? Before cell phones, the Internet and being so hip at shows that you just stand in one place the entire time. Going out, munching on corn and satisfying the desire you yourself may have to murder, slash and gut your enemies. But you wouldn't REALLY do that, right? That's why we have songs and literature about such things. It fills that desire. Temporarily. Pick up this 7'' and fill yours.

The other selling point of this 7'' is that Mike Diana designed the cover art. If you're not familiar with Mike Diana, he was the first cartoonist to receive a criminal conviction for obscenity in the United States because of his zines, "Boiled Angel #7" and "#ATE."

No comments: