Every now and then something lands in my inbox with an unexpected hook that immediately gets my attention. Such was the case with the email I received from Rob Moss regarding Records, the third album by Rob Moss And Skin-Tight Skin, which mentioned Rob’s former band, Artificial Peace, in the subject line.
Back in ye olden days (i.e., mid-to-late 1980s), when dual cassette decks were still coveted and I was trying to collect every scrap of music out of Washington, D.C., demos and live shows by Artificial Peace were especially sought out. The band appeared on the seminal Dischord Records compilation Flex Your Head but, beyond those three songs and a hard-to-find split 7” with Exiled, you had to trade cassettes to get the full studio demos or any live material.
The band was a bracing blast of first wave American hardcore, and in 2010 Dischord Records finally released the complete demos officially. A 1982 live recording was issued in 2022 by Alona’s Dream Records with an accompanying photobook, as well. Clearly, that music has stood the test of time and remains highly recommended, but 40-plus years later I was most intrigued to hear what the bassist for Artificial Peace (and also the legendary Government Issue, for a time) was up to in the here and now.
And in the here and now what we’ve got is a core band of Moss on vocals and rhythm guitar, Danny Frankel of DC new wave pioneers Urban Verbs on drums and percussion, and Tom McNally on bass, backing vocals, and Hammond C3 organ. There are also 11 special guests adding lead guitar to each of the 12 songs. The album clocks in at 32:32, which means things do indeed keep moving.
Leadoff track “We Just Don’t Know” sets the tone for what’s to come with a classic power pop punk tune featuring a bit of Heartbreakers/mid-period Ramones action and a dollop of Cheap Trick. Vocally Moss can exhibit hints of everyone from early hardcore fellow traveler Keith Morris to Dee Dee Ramone. In fact, Dee Dee, whose handful of bubblegum-catchy solo releases have rightly been reappraised, is a comparison that surfaces at several points. “Hey You (We’re Sick of You)” crosses Iggy Pop swagger with the tuneful roar of England’s Vibrators and Lurkers, keeping things propulsive and toe-tapping.
“You And Time” is a wistful ode to the ever-quickening march of years that delivers us all to the same end. Here there’s a bit more English rock-punk creeping in, and I’m reminded of Glen Matlock’s sophisticated post-Pistols band Rich Kids. “The World (Is A Playground)” is a duet with Jen D’Angora, who fittingly brings a little Debbie Harry/Fay Fife (The Rezillos) to the proceedings while “I Got Lots Of Problems” put me in mind of early ’70s glam rock with a hook-laden bridge that Dee Dee could’ve written.
“Basement Party” is an ode to high school partying set to a soundtrack that might’ve wafted out of the doorway of an early CBGB’s gig. The mid-tempo “Right Hook” is a tuneful, mid-tempo favorite with a stinging Johnny Thunders-esque guitar lead. “In The Canebrake” chugs nicely with noirish vibes (have I mentioned Moss’ excellent 2015 crime novel, Descending Memphis?) and both “The Next Time (I See You)” and “Ink Blue Smoke Again” mix power-pop and punk with maybe a dash of The B-52’s. “What Happened (To The Rock ‘N’ Roll)?” celebrates the basic tenets of gritty rock, both lyrically and musically, while lamenting the loss of said grit with an echo or two of Mott The Hoople. Finally, in the grand tradition of other touchstones, such as Generation X or The Clash, the last song on the record cuts and chops “We Just Don’t Know” into a dub to bring things full circle.
All these years on and you still can’t go wrong with half an hour of short, catchy songs laden with buzzsaw guitars and appropriate attitude. If you enjoy power pop, glam, the more tuneful side of early punk, and maybe even the primitive songwriting of Midwestern proto-punk, I think you’ll find something to like here. Punk and hardcore often sunk its hooks deep, and it’s always cool when someone who was in on the ground floor of something reappears—even decades later—producing music that is still filled with outsider sneer and rock and roll fun. Records is very worth checking out, and bonus points for the nice graphics by Jason Farrell, whose band Swiz also got the dub decks turning all those years ago.
