HONEYMOON KILLERS - Hung Far Low LP

Remastered.

“Hung Far Low” fully embodied the spirit of fuzzy, distorted, and rugged garage punk of the New York noise rock scene. Rather than make some grand statement on punk music, the Honeymoon Killers have refined the sound of the garage punk rock band to perfection; with unrecognizably distorted guitars, banal lyrics, and simple blues melodies turned into feverish nightmares of the past.

Of course, modern production moulds the sound into some of the band’s most refined and rhythmically coherent works. “Mad Dog” and “Kansas City Milkman” are intensely cacophonous pieces with guitar polyrhythms and the faint wailing of the harmonica and trombone in the background, drowned out by the ferocious guitars. “Mr. Big Stuff” is instead focused on dynamite drum beats courtesy of Russell Simins; giving Mac McNeilly a worthy competitor.

The peak of the album is “Vanna White”, a frenzied hoedown scored for tempestuous guitars and banal screaming matches between Jerry Teel and Lisa Wells. It culminates two minutes in with a rarefied rhythmic assault ala Laughing Hyenas with one of Jon Spencer’s finest guitar solos. “Vanna White” transitions seamlessly into “You Can’t Do That” where, after a full minute of aimless guitar noodling, the band pick up steam and launch into a barrelling punk blues with an endlessly repeating chorus (“You can’t do that, no”).