Friday, July 07, 2006

The Yah Mos - Off Your Parents




The Yah Mos Off Your Parents 7" (Recess, 1994)

For the longest time this Sacramento punk rock 'institution' were slagged off as a mere blue-collar low-rent take on the Nation of Ulysses' staggering genius, they being the DC band who married a sound similar to this with lots of expensive clothes and wowed a very narrow slice of a certain generation that shall go nameless (post-X, pre-Y, eh...). Well, no one outside the Beltway cares about NOU anymore so let's just freshen the take on this EP's achievements just on its face, shall we? All these tracks are bashing away with brainy, wreckless abandon, yet they are held together by a sinewy rhythm section that never allows the songs to fall apart into jerkoff/spazz/mess/hardcore. Channeling and controlling this seething energy (in other words, making it accessible) without sounding tight-assed or self-conscious or devolving into a prog-punk-core band (with its nice, safe, mathematically derived lego-piece song construction aesthetic) is very tuff I says. Previous SP post Cop Out managed it. The Yah-Mos do it on this EP.

This particular EP carries the odd distinction of being released on one label (Recess) and then getting reissued right afterwards on another (Moo-La-La), which usually means the first label has disappeared, which as we know with Recess is certainly not the case, alas. The covers of the two pressings are slightly different, so for those of you who 'collect 'em all!'... One of the overlooked punk LPs of the mid-late-90s is the Yah Mos' own effort, mainly because it took years and years for it to find eventual issuance via the Gern Blandsten label. Seek and enjoy. - Ryan W.


// posted by W/S @ 11:59 AM
Comments:
Didn't these dudes go on to become !!! (Chik Chik Chik)? If so, what a downfall.

-Shaun
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:29 PM
 
Better than I ever thought they were...another band that suffered the burden of a not-great name.
# posted by Blogger Jeff H. : 10:24 AM
 
Yes! This has long been one of my favorite 7"s of the 1990s...
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 12:08 PM
 
ps, their 2nd EP, Right On, is excellent as well.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 12:09 PM
 
FYI. Right On is their first ep.
# posted by Blogger Scott Soriano : 1:57 PM
 
yes they became !!!/outhud etc
never heard that LP it took so long to come out
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 5:52 PM
 
This record is solid fucking gold. The Yah Mos had a big impact on my core group of friends. And when Nick and Tyler came up with Out Hud the first time it blew our fucking minds.

Another great document on why it is a shame that Sacto doesn't get all the credit it deserves....
# posted by Blogger timothy radar : 12:29 AM
 
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