- Courtesy the artist
- Big Ups
New York City’s Big Ups are in town this weekend, playing tonight in the Subterranean’s downstairs bar and Saturday afternoon at Wicker Park Fest. This spazzy foursome plays straight-ahead, no-frills punk rock, channelling all the greats with the unhinged, desperate vocals of Minor Threat, the melodic sense of the Adolescents, and the fuck-it-all frustration of the Suicidal Tendencies. Today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “Goes Black,” off the band’s 2014 LP, Eighteen Hours of Static, builds from subdued, down-and-out introspection into a full-blown hardcore roar within a brief two minutes and 20 seconds. In an era when everything’s either lo-fi or overwrought, it’s cool to hear some dudes who just want to rip. Check out “Goes Black” below, and be sure not to miss the band at one of its shows this weekend: I caught them at a weird little bar in New York a few years ago, and their fury still rattles me today.