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NNT#051 The Bug - Humbug; or, So Many Awful Things EP

by Not Normal Tapes

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1.
Do you blame the ass that jigs on command? Or the "Ha-ha-ha"s and clapping hands? Who takes the stage without an audience first? LePen took third and it keeps getting worse The idiot countenance of the present smiles again and again! And again! Mirthless at parties No manners at dinner Do you bark at commuters like rambling street prophets? Or shill papers on Sundays like some balding communist? Mirthless at parties No manners at dinner Do you blame the brownshirts that march door to door? Or the beckoning hands demanding more more more more?! The present's idiot countenance is salivating! The present's idiot countenance smiles again and again! And again! Explanation: With countless decades worth of warm embraces and sloppy, open-mouth kidding spent courting the far right, the liberal lament of "How did we ever get here?" is predicated on a supreme lack of self awareness. The election of Donald Trump is simply the logical endpoint of the long rightward drift of supposed progressives desperately appealing to the lowest common denominator, cut-rate comedians hamming it up with reactionary politicians, and a mainstream media (fearful of appearing too partisan), refusing to use the word fascist.
2.
Grumblin' tummy? Mind ill at ease? You need an empathetic ear You need a late lunch sogged with grease White hands hold white hands While black hands wring with grief Over breakfast, eyes meet in agreement What goes for troubled in some parts of town In others ain't worth grieving White hands hold white hands While black hands wring with grief In a park, children doing children's things In a car, lovers doing lovers' things The quaint banalities of life Twisted to the moment's needs Explanation: There is a clear disparity between the treatment of white citizens and citizens of color in the US, and the delineation is no more apparent than law enforcement's handling of white terrorists/criminals versus black civilians. There is always time for de-escalation, rationalization, and coddling when black church-goers are murdered, but the weaponization and criminalization of Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Eric Harris, Mike Brown, etc. happened before a call was ever made. Anti-blackness is the foundation of our country and without addressing it, any talk of equality is patently farcical.
3.
Oh, Brother! 00:48
Oh buh-buh-bother, brother Ignore your sister, hate your mother Lost a father, seek another Seek another and another Ears plugged to mid knuck, "No, no, no!" Ears plugged to mid knuck, "No, no, no!" Begrudging participant rolls their eyes and starts to mutter, "Oh, brother!" Oh buh-brothers hot and bothered Never one to let a word go squandered Repelled away from center As the trail starts to wander Ears plugged to mid knuck, "No, no, no!" Ears plugged to mid knuck, "No, no, no!" Lips overcome by quiver and then they start to blubber, "Oh, brother!: Are you listening: You're boring, I'm boring, We're boring! Explanation: A unity that perpetuates the same social hierarchies, one maintained by the same silence and inaction which maintains mainstream society, and further otherizes women and marginalized people, is a worthless and hollow one.
4.
I, sometimes, I sleep "Oh, I'm alright, I'm alright, everything's alright with me" Embellished whispers about you, while I deny what's in front of me Base fantasy bears base reality Meanwhile, bored and suburbed Six hours stuck waist up, riflin' through the cupboards What comes next? You have to ask? Snort assorted shavings culled from one another's ass Huff your own bad breath, man, eat some rocks (Tomorrow, hair preened, pants pleated, white teeth flossed) Sometimes, sometimes I sleep Eyelids provide the backdrop to so many awful things Unspeakable, unwelcome, imagined A slow and steady mantra of "I haven't, oh, I haven't" Oh, I haven't seemed to manage, I confess To open my mouth without making a fucking mess Explanation: In the punk community, support and understanding of mental illness is often subordinated to the fetishization or romanticization of mental illness. To wit: if you can dig a scrawny, mid-twenties art kid taking a microphone to the forehead, you can dig standing by those struggling around you.
5.
Opinionated 01:41
Everyone, eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-everyone's engaging in mutually rewarding exchanges And everyone, absolutely everyone's Got a big idea on the tip of their tongue Someone, somewhere's Talking to (or about) themselves Opinionated And not much else Opinionated, adapting words and phrases Speaking mouth to ear until Voices reach a uniform pitch and cadence Somewhere, there's an opinion Suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-seeking validation Somewhere, there's an action Suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-seeking justification Can we level? Not every surface is level Validation/justificiation Explanation: Some people talk too much.
6.
Humbug 02:37
True, they left ya blue Hauled off with nana, and papa, too! Ain't suncast spectres out near Nevada Just mass graves for geriatrics And the purged Benghazi data "Connie's new curriculum Lists jihad next to mathematics" "Well, little Bobby turned queer and commie, No Janet and Bob Sr. clutch their King James in the attic" An excess of time? Burdened. Keenly observant? Burdened. Ignored prescience? Fucking burdened! But little men mind very little What's big around with hollow middle? A burden in excess of hope True, they left ya blue Hauled off with nana, and papa, too! Ain't suncast spectres out near the border Just mass graves para trabajadores seeking five and a quarter Will tomorrow look back fondly When today's spent spitting forward? What's big around with hollow middle? The past despairs, "Beware!: Humbuh-buh-bug! The humbuh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-bug!" What's big around with hollow middle? The past despairs, "The hoax of hope!" Explanation: Conspiracy theories surrounded ol' Barry O since his election in '08, but his grand designs for septuagenarian death camps, turning white children into gay, Bolshevik atheists, and implementing Sharia Law largely took a back seat to reality. His administration deported more people than his reviled Republican predecessor; expanded drone operations in the middle east; oversaw and extended inherited military occupations while initiating new ones; gave material and political support to right-wing leaders in South America with ties to Reagan's death squad days; and remained limp as police continued their war on the black community and violence against, women, POCs, and the LGBTQ community continued unabated (ed. note: violence that will worsen under Trump!) This is the legacy of Hope.

about

Where are we in the life cycle of The Bug? Dispatches from the years of larval hibernation underground offered clues as to what lay ahead but nothing could have prepared us for the voracity of this group’s adult form, barely contained on this, their debut 7”. Most bands are lucky if they come up with one original thought in their lifespans; still others are content—nay, thrilled!—to just recycle and repackage the same ideas we’ve been rolling around in our empty heads for decades. “Never again.” The Bug, though? The Bug make dense music. Smart music. Music that is so full of ideas and possibility that it’s almost too much to bear. This is lightspeed Midwestern hardcore punk (dare I say thrash?). It has to be fast — there’s just too much to say, bodies scrambling to keep up with racing minds. Hardcore as protest noise, as a sublime manifestation of what happens when pure kinetic energy, a razorsharp wit, and a bull-headed will to survive collide. A new paradigm for political punk songs (no pandering, preaching, or posturing to be found here), packaged with a three-color printed booklet featuring lyrics, explanations, and pages of collage work featuring the group’s signature sinister smile. The arc of the moral universe always bends back to the same old bullshit, doesn’t it? Consider this a brief respite.

Co-released with IFB.

credits

released June 1, 2017

Recorded by Amos Pitsch at Crutch of Memory.
Mastered by Blake Lusk.
The Bug live photo by Garett Fisbeck.

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Not Normal Tapes Chicago, Illinois

DIY Hardcore Punk Label based in Chicago.
No bullshit.

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