(no subject)

[joshthevegan]

Following two ameteurish cassette-only demo releases, Lehigh Valley, Pa's The Ick offered their first official release through the F.O.E. Records imprint. Drawing on influences ranging from Black Flag to Descendents, 4 Song E.P. emodies the sound that The Ick would become local legends for: one part aggressive, fast and political, one part fun and wacky.

In fact, the E.P. literally splits the songs between these two personnas. The opening track, "Rubbermaid", is a send-up of the commercials the brand ran in the early '90's with cars slamming into the product, and the final song on the E.P., "White Trash Trailer Park Girl", is a fractured love song for an unlikely beauty. The two songs in the middle of the E.P. take a much more serious tone. "You Tell Me" addresses alcohol abuse and drunken violence (which was becoming more and more common at punk shows over the years) and "Senseless" decries gun violence.

The Ick would hang around for a few more years, playing shows around the eastern Pennsylvania punk circuit, sharing the stage with big names like Bigwig, At The Drive In, Plow United and Weston. They would eventually issue a self-released full-length compact disc, before finally calling it quits.

If you are interested in hearing this E.P. (or any of the other great titles from F.O.E. Records) you can download mp3's over here, and if you want to read more about this particular release, the local paper out of Allentown, The Morning Call, wrote a brief feature about the release of the E.P.

4 Song E.P. - 6 out 10