Puppy and the Hand Jobs

It'd be quite easy to write off (the fantastically named) Puppy and the Hand Jobs for making self-described “trash rock and roll.” Much as is the case with bands like The Dwarves however, while the band does produce vulgar rapid-fire punk music that seems to have been recorded as “hot” as possible, there’s an undeniably catchiness to their music. 2019’s I Hate Everything demonstrates this quite nicely.

Certainly tracks like “Cocksucker” and “Predator” would have some clutching their pearls (hell, the former track has a music video released through, gulp, Pornhub, and no, I'm not linking it), but midway through this 10-minute EP, the band uncorks “Plan 9” and shows that they can, in fact, deliver genuinely infectious tracks that aren’t overtly offensive. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by this: frontman Jamie Paul Lamb had some of his previous work featured on the excellent We’re Loud compilation a few years back. I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call I Hate Everything a masterpiece, but it also isn’t remotely trying to be. It’s simply an energetic and fun album for those with, ahem, refined tastes.

6.3 / 10 — Andy