This Friday’s release day brought excellent news for the C-section of your record collection. In addition to the spazzy synthpunk goodness that is Cherry Cheeks’ new full length LP, here is a modern classic by what I believe to be one of the most exciting emerging punk bands of recent years: CLASS. The pace with which the band from Tucson is making a name for themselves and building a no filler discography has ’60s written all over it. If You’ve Got Nothing is the band’s fourth (!) release in eighteen months. Wait, what? And yet, while the prolific nature and consistent quality of the band’s output is reminscent of some of the giants of the ’60s, the melodic sound of the band has roots firmly in ’70s (proto)punk and power pop.
If You’ve Got Nothing is comprised of 12 songs, and sees CLASS opting for a looser, more experimental style. It’s not like they ever felt boxed in to genre expectations, but it feels like they found a voice of their own even more. If there is any knock on the band and the new LP is that some of the songs have appeared on previous records. Then again, these songs are either so awesome (Inspect The Receipt) or played in a version so different from the original that it starts to sound like a new song (Oh! The Nerve). On their new LP, CLASS sound like true originals, the real deal. If you are in a cynical mood about the state of rock’n’roll, and have resigned to only playing the classics, I invite you to press play on the pop infused anarchy of If You’ve Got Nothing. It’s like opening the window to let the bad air out.
CLASS are shining so brightly, you almost start to worry if they will not burn out soon. For now, let’s be grateful to reside in the same timeline as CLASS. If You’ve Got Nothing is out now on Feel It Records.
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