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Sure, you like Radio Birdman. Of course you do, you’re a person of taste. But what if Deniz Tek, Rob Younger et al took some time out to complete their Doctorate in Pub Rock And Street Punk Studies, pushing their proto-punk garage sound into something that snarls with even more cocksure swagger than before? I’m just speculating here, but that sounds like pretty essential rock’n’roll to me, and luckily Pittsburgh’s United Stare have come up with a record that proves my theory - a self-titled debut full-length that more than delivers on the outrageous promise of their self-titled 7” and two cassette EPs.

United Stare’s own blurb on Bandcamp claims the band were ‘actually trying to sound like Hüsker Dü’ in their early days, and you can hear that band’s sheets-of-speeding-noise approach from the very first clatter of drums’n’guitar on opener ‘United In The Sand’. But one thing that Bob, Grant’n’Greg rarely did was swing in a real rockundroll fasion, let alone give in to the hip-shaking, sashaying groove that dominates the sound on this record - it’s one of the many things that makes it feel so instantly classic. The first nine songs sound like they smoked 20 a night with Kilburn & The High Roads before necking cheap lager with The Business and yelling at them all to play faster (no, faster than that… NO, FASTER THAN THAT), and by the time a harmonica appears on air-punching stormer ‘Born To Walk, you’ll be seeking out the paperwork to move into the flat above any pub smart enough to give them a residency.

Then, suddenly, there’s a change of pace at the very end. ‘Glaciers’ starts out like the sludged-out crawl of J Mascis’ dreams, signalling the possibility of a gloomy epic that’s likely to run through a heap of molten riffage, but before you know it we’re dragged down the path previously trod by the Wipers on ‘Youth Of America’ - a kraut-out burst of motorik urgency and brilliantly psychedelic punk that totally reinvents your understanding of this album. United Stare want to soften up your mind with some of the most urgent songs you’ll hear all year, then take the resulting mush, mess with it a little and then ram it straight into a wall. If that doesn’t sound like a great way to spend your time… well, I dunno what to tell ya. Essential!
Will Fitzpatrick

First 100 on Yellow Vinyl

Released in the US via Stupid Bag records, EU via Drunken Sailor Records

Pressing Information

100 Yellow/ 350 Black Vinyl