Punk has always been international. When public intellectuals like Thomas L. Friedman began to trumpet the interconnectedness of a globalized world, American punks had already been booking tours, trading records, and making friends with their international brethren for years. It's a shining example of how the right cultural formation can dissolve political borders with ease - just as earlier rock and roll provided a source of solidarity for '60s radicals, along with well-thumbed Herbert Marcuse paperbacks.
This split, from Sheffield-based Dead & Gone Records, presents a cross-channel alliance between England and Norway, as Liverpudlians the Down and Outs team up with Oslo's Death is Not Glamorous. The allied forces take flight over seven inches of pee-yellow (or purple, depending on consumer preference) wax terrain, dealing out three songs apiece (one cover on the Down and Outs side).
The Down and Outs are the revelation on this record. Their punk is classicist, in the mold of decorated partisans like Cock Sparrer and The Clash, but with a noticeable jolt of post-Thatcher melancholy - think Leatherface out on the pitch instead of propping up the bar. "Chris Song" is a straight kiss-off, and whoever Chris is, he must've fucked up big time to warrant enmity like this: "It makes us sick / that you can even exist." But "Anchors Away" takes the prize for song of the split: the naval image as metaphor for rootlessness and a lack of direction, with sing-alongability reaching critical levels.
The Down and Outs cap off their side with one of the best covers I've heard in ages, an acoustic chant-along of Slaughter and the Dogs' "Situations." Whereas the original was a swaggering, pub-rattling number, the D and Os dial it back to a beery six-string sigh, a bitter torch song sung by best mates over a few pints. It's a great final touch. I could imagine (i.e. hope to see) them touring the States with somebody like the Bouncing Souls""especially since the latter band seems to have more or less retired their John Hughes goofballisms to focus on real pathos, which the Down and Outs provide ably here.
Death is Not Glamorous are probably the more familiar band for most listeners, having recently secured a measure of hype with their amazing demo and a few follow-up EPs (this being one of them). Death is Not Glamorous have degrees from the Eastern Seaboard School of Melodic Hardcore, taking cues from professors emeritus like Lifetime and Kid Dynamite. But they've also got a kind of hyperactive posi edge that places them closer to Grey Area's self-help anthems. They perform well on this record, with the aptly titled "One Song Gets Me Moving" sounding the best (complete with whoa-ohs on the outro). Closer "Confined", which rails against homophobia, also boasts a winsome bass break toward the end that sounds like an outtake from Hello Bastards.
But I think Death is Not Glamorous threaten to become too prolific. Their songs here, like the ones of Undercurrents, don't have quite the same potency as the material on their demo. I'd recommend they cool their heels a bit (probably impossible; they seem like a very "active" band) and really polish their tunes until they've got an LP's worth, and then blow everyone away. The Down and Outs, on the other hand, seem well suited to the EP format, and I'm eager to hear more from them.
