Hearingthevoice.com

My dad was born in the age of vinyl. Rock dinosaurs ruled the earth. They hadn’t yet fossilized to fuel a melancholic generation of old geezers, to keep those life- and profit-sustaining devices running. (In the music biz, the first best-of equals menopause, the first reunion a double bypass.)

Reading the track list of the new NOFX EP
reminds me of a particular lesson my father taught me: Pink Floyd on compact disc is a strict no-go! That’s not only a matter of sound quality. Moreover, vinyl and Floyd, how shall I put it… they simply belong to each other. Such congeniality also applies for the relationship between format and genre. Punk (regardless of its prefix, be it skate- or whatever) sounds best on good old seven-inch (or EP for that matter). Little dose, great effect.

One couldn’t expect NOFX to reinvent the genre after decades of successful reproduction. On the level of lyrics, some will miss a Bush to rock against. Besides, the personal touch proves baffling, even irritating. The music’s same old. Cokie the Clown could be assembled from the remnants of any full-length release since the seminal Punk In Drublic. However, the five tracks were actually cut from 2009’s Coaster. No killer, all filler? A clear yes. But these releases – often self-deprecating, almost verging on parody – they are the essence of NOFX. On their long way only little has been lost. The boys haven’t fossilized yet. No first best-of in sight.