Goff's Pick of the Week- First Four EPs by OFF!

Its only eighteen minutes. It has sixteen tracks. Under normal circumstances it would be easy to write off something that was only eighteen minutes long as not an album, and that is not made any easier by the fact that OFF!’s first release is a collection of earlier ep’s. But it would be hard to listen to First Four EP’s and think of it as anything less than an album. Take Minor Threat for instance whose definitive work was also a collection of tracks that were taken from 7”s, not to mention the legendary band Void whose whole discography was just half of a split LP, the hardcore punk scene has never really conformed to the traditional album format. (In case you are curious I started listening to the album when I started writing this piece and it finished right after that last sentence) Despite not having a track over 1:35 the band really excels in a way that no other punk band would be able to in today’s music scene. OFF! Is lead by ex-Black Flag and Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris and its that experience and trust from the fans that would immediately make anyone considering OFF! want to give them a listen. Its so nice to hear a band that doesn’t need to prove itself as hardcore, especially when you consider that so many bands in punk are volatile and short lived. Its no wonder that OFF! have found such success, instead of trying to redefine what punk means in the twentieth century like Fucked Up and Trash Talk have been doing OFF can play straight up punk the way everyone knows and loves. I thought it would be best if this post is as short and ends as abruptly as the album that it reviews.