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LP
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UTR 104LP
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Someone to Watch Over Me follows on from the No Babies' debut LP of 2011 and its successive fleet of empowering/imploding 7"s and EPs. Victoria M. Ruiz (of Downtown Boys) provides backup vocals on "The Weight" and "Internalized", whilst "Hazia" features a quote from Ursula K. Le Guin's The Farthest Shore (1972). 180 gram, blue/red marbled vinyl; Reverse board sleeve; Includes lyric insert and download card; Edition of 500.
"Oakland, CA's No Babies return with their second LP, another furiously ecstatic exploration of the overlapping margins of punk, hardcore, and no wave. The pieces we've come to expect are all here: Jasmine Watson's invectives against capitalism, binaries, police; Ricky Martyr's inimitable and always surprising stop-start guitar; horns of all stripes breaking through the noise (Misha Poleschuck on tenor sax, clarinet); a nimble and powerful jazz-influenced rhythm section (Laura DeVeber on bass, Sean Nieves on drums). Their particular brand of composed/improvised noise/music has never been chaos at all (they've always known exactly what they're doing), and this time around the band seems more at one than ever, aided by the crispness and brightness of Jack Shirley's able production. These are walls of sound, something like a runaway train, or a writhing sea serpent, and we are along for the ride. This is music that feels necessary. These are songs that sound vital to survival. We must play them or we will explode. We must play them in order to explode. California in 2018 is a place that feels difficult to survive in. Our friends and neighbors are murdered by the state and its negligence; our homes could crumble or be stolen from us at a moment's notice; capital is bearing down in new and even more unimaginably cruel ways. The land itself is telling us that we shouldn't be here: fire, mudslides, earthquakes. Someone to Watch Over Me is a reminder of the twin powers of sorrow and strength, noise and melody, anger and joy. 'Joy/ Joy/ Joy/ Joy/ Joy/ Joy/ Joy/ Joy' Watson screams at the end of the album-closing titular song. Joy may be the only way out of this fresh hell -- No Babies make joyful noise and for that we should all be grateful." --Grace Ambrose
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