Guyana Punch Line, "Better Off Dead"

Bipartite étude in fear and self-doubt. Negative dialecticians forsake Columbia, S.C., for visions of "Smashist" post-politics, a more coherent counter-ideology than NoU or Orchid could ever muster. And at every turn in GPL's catalogue, the consumer finds himself steamrolled by an acrid, taut, highly specific syncopated figure (here, the rhythmic carpet on which the lyrics "better off dead" float). It's a simple enough trope over 4/4 time, but Bickel and band condense it, clip it, contort it, push it to the point of total absurdity, a veritable hardcore leitmotif. Other tracks on the Irritainment LP feign innocence at first, aping relevant sub-genres before entering the blender and submitting to the Jonestown Sound. This one–two salvo is the core text, as deft an exercise in theme and variation as can be found this side of thrash.

"Better Off Dead (One)"
"Better Off Dead (Two)"