UK Gold

“Intro” & “Autoresponder” b/w “Cracked” & “Hunter/Hunted”

Black vinyl only, limited to 300 copies.

Ho-lee-shit. I’ve not been this wowed by a seemingly random single in about a decade. Was hipped to it by the weekly K Records email list, a worthwhile missive you’d all be better served subscribing to.

“Intro” slays. Reminiscent of the under-appreciated NW punk nihilist punks A-Frames, as is the rest of the single, to varying degrees.

All three band members are listed as being from other bands, all of which I’ve never heard of before. Impressive even in my old age. “Autoresponder” drums pitter patter before coupling with gnarly fuzz distortion, a mere shade off of KC’s tone on the heavier “Bleach”-era songs. The sly backing vocals only became apparent after four listen-throughs. An audio easter egg.

“Cracked’ feels so simple, but the stabbed Andy Gill guitar intrusions intone that there’s lots of complicated underpinnings beneath the hood of this precision automobile. Maybe that automobile reference was subconsciously intuited because I’ve just been staring at the single cover. “Hunter/Hunted” drearily starts in a vague pigfuck vibe and I think my slight dislike of the song is two-fold…1) the other songs are so good and 2) “Hunter/Hunted” is probably intending on making the listener feel uncomfortable. I am ok with that.

A-side recorded by Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic…when I do the math I realize he’s been supporting/operating in the underground for almost forty years. That is dedication. Trivia: Calvin Johnson bought the first copy of the first record I ever put out on my label Cass Records. When I told him I was starting a label he EXPLICITLY asked for me to pull the first copy out of the box and set it aside for him and he would purchase when he next saw me. How could I NOT follow such awesome instructions? Especially when he was ADAMANT about BUYING the single, as I was more than willing to GIVE it to him.

B-side is recorded by Captain Tripps Ballsington. I feel like I need to meet this guy. Across the two engineers and studios the sounds are shockingly consistent. To me that signals the band has their shit dialed in. I’d bet they knocked this shit out quick.

UK Gold is purveying smart, interesting, original and seemingly uncompromising heavy rock music in a time where doing so is decreasingly relevant and viable. You should support them in any way possible.