Unfun – Sick Outside View

Unfun is easily, hands down, one of the best punk bands going right now.

And yes, just to get it out of the way: Sick Outside View, their first full-length, is just about unstoppable. There isn’t a dud on here, and I imagine – even this early in the year – this will be making a plethora of Top 10 lists come December. I know it’ll make mine.

I was first introduced to these guys via their Pain Prescription EP on Moonquake, and became a pretty ardent fan about twenty seconds into the first track. These guys fucking rule, and while they certainly haven’t broken any new ground with this one, I personally wouldn’t want them to. There’s nothing here that needs fixing. At all.

Unfun consistently takes the best elements of quality pop punk – self-effacement and/or awareness, melody and harmony, speed – and throw it all right on its ass. Forget vapid joke songs about being uncool or disliked: these dudes can’t figure out if they hate you or themselves more. There’s a tightly wound, “hanging on by a thread” kind of emotional desperation at work here that, as a listener, somehow becomes goddamn life-affirming because of it. It’s incredibly powerful stuff. There’s no cute wordplay or smarmy couplets about the girls that don’t like them; this is just raw self-loathing set to music, and there’s something really empowering as a listener – there’s an emotional resonance there that’s just awesome.  And as far as the music, it retains exactly the right amount of melody (these songs, in their own way, are ridiculously, mercilessly catchy) but it’s tempered by ragged, distorted vocals and dirty production. The whole album’s just this terrific wall of noise, especially for a three-piece.

I’m most likely dating myself here, but if you liked the pre-BYO Jon Cougar Concentration Camp releases, those first few 7”s they did, chances are good you’ll dig this – the attack is really similar. Pop punk that’s a little too ugly and ragged for its own good, maybe, but screw it – songs like “Wrecking Ball” and“Rain City” are relentlessly good. And for those of you not born a million years ago, a more earnest and/or desperate Off With Their Heads seems a more current reference.

The only thing I can think of in regards to complaints about the album is that they do suffer from “Bad Religion Syndrome”: the songs definitely sound similar to each other, and they only start to become differentiated, lyrically and musically, after repeated listens. But fuck it – it’s a good and incredibly awesome sound they’re mining here, and I personally can’t get enough of it. Reprinted lyrics would’ve also been nice, but again, that’s what repeated listens are for.

The cassette version of Sick Outside View was released by the rad British label Not Shy Of The DIY, and coincides with the band’s recent tour of the UK. I believe there may be some copies left. For vinyl nerds, Fast Crowd is handling the LP version. One of the best records I’ve heard in a long time. Heartily recommended.