Pissed Jeans

Yes, it’s a great name for a band and Hope for Men is the perfect exclamation point for four guys with the audacity to christen themselves after some yellow-stained, ponging denim. After selling out two pressings of their Sub Pop debut seven-inch, "Don’t Need Smoke to Make Myself Disappear,” Allentown, PA’s Pissed Jeans follow up 2005’s Shallow with this agitated punk masterstroke. Much like Toronto’s Fucked Up, Pissed Jeans defy any straight commitment to being categorised. They can pound the shit out of their gear on a rumbling anthem like "People Person” or venture off into epic passages channelling the likes of Black Flag on "My Bed” or the Birthday Party on the alarming "Scrapbooking.” As intense as they get sonically, Pissed Jeans are really just about cracking jokes and releasing their frustration of living in nowheresville and working dull jobs (guitarist Bradley Fry is in account management, while singer Matt Korvette is actually a claims adjuster). "Fantasy World” and its sludgy repetition allows Korvette to ramble about aspirations and as dour as it appears, "The Jogger” is one of the funniest things you’ll hear all year, as Korvette associates words such as "Whole Foods” and "matching suits” over top of hissing feedback that’d spook Genesis P-Orridge. Hope for Men is a definite contender for year-end triumph.