Male Bonding came to my attention over the last year thanks to releasing a string of killer split 7″s, culminating in their most recent one with Dum Dum Girls. Now the band from Dalston, UK has released their first full-length on one of the most legendary indie labels of all time, Sub Pop. The band plays the style of scuzzy and fast punk that is in high fashion these days, but manages to surpass 99% of the bands aping this style currently. The band does it by delivering some of the best melodies and hooks you’ll ever heard buried below the layers of scum that live on the surface of their songs. I’m not one to fault a band for a lack of originality if they pursue perfection in the style of music that they play. This band is about as close to perfection as this sound gets.

With the release of “Nothing Hurts” today, my best-of-the-year list just got a little more tight and crowded. It’s been pretty much all I listen to since a friend mentioned the album had leaked, and I was excited to order my copy on vinyl earlier today. You should enjoy the preview track below and then do the same! “Worse To Come” is the last track on the album and is very different from all the others that came before it. It’s a mostly acoustic song with backing vocals by Vivian Girls. I included it because it’s one of the best tracks, but also to show the depth that the band is capable of bringing to a style of music that has become very shallow recently. This is one band who lives up to their hype.

Male Bonding – Worse To Come