Urochromes "Night Bully" 7"

Urochromes continue an amazing run with the release of their first fully realized extended player, Night Bully. The A-Side is comprised of 3 full throttle and perfectly condensed punk songs, while the B-Side charts new territory for the group. Searing opener “My Dickies” is a playground for Dick Riddick, one of contemporary punk’s stand-out guitarists and a true master of tone. Here he shoots for the rafters with an ascending line that serves as the track’s central hook.  The creepy whispered vocals and banging electronic drums of “My Disposition” introduce one of Jackieboy’s doomed characters swimming in self-doubt. “Confront Ya” explores adoration with a promise of continued indifference (“They love you in West Mass…Ahhhhhhh”). 

The B-Side opener “Night Bully” codifies Urochromes’ love of industrial punks, Chrome with an arrangement as mechanical as it is maniacal. Dick Riddick creates a constantly changing wave of texture over pulsing electronics. The whispered vocal style introduced in “Confront Ya” is back, this time asking “So you think I have a funny face?” Another of Jackieboy’s jealous, wounded characters this time baiting the affirmative response.

The ender is a remix of “Night Bully” by electronic gloom masters, Boy Harsher. This track reimagines the song as a lost noir-wave classic while still retaining the menace of the original. The inclusion of this remix shows Urochromes’ disdain for “the rules” but also reminds us that the drum machine was there from the start – this has always been a punk band with one foot in electronic noise.