Moist Boy from New Bedford, Massachusetts are one of the rare cases in which a band comes somewhat close to what you could call pop punk without immediately pissing me off. But for me, that's having most to do with incredibly low standards in that particular genre rather than an aversion to simple, straightforward melodies. Pop punk bands just tend to fuck up even the most basic, fundamental components of decent punk rock. Moist Boy don't suck in the slightest and that's thanks to first rate songwriting abilities, an adequately tight and punchy performance and - to counter the sweet catchyness of their melodies - a distinct garage edge as well as some rather dark lyrical content. Quality stuff throughout and required listening if you appreciate bands like Cheap Whine, Dark Thoughts, Steve Adamyk Band... maybe even The Marked Men!
This already marks the second time these two bands from Indianapolis are pooling their, um... resources for a split release - this time it's a 7" on Goodbye Boozy Records. Not only is the recording quality a little bit less rough than last time; both bands have also significantly diversified their musical vocabulary. The Resource Network alternate between smartypants garage punk of the Uranium Club & Yammerer variety, a post punk/-core thingy you could imagine as a weird mix of Rites Of Spring and early Slovenly, and finally a straight punk rocker radiating a Launcher-style KBD Vibe. Quite a bit of the latter you can also find on Big Hog's side and there's less of a hardcore edge to their new songs - instead you'll find a wild post punk ride you might describe as Patti-meet-early-Minutemen, surrounded by two blasts of noise punk resembling what Lumpy & The Dumpers could have sounded like on some sort of sludge/doom trip.
