As the heading indicates, this is the second in Matador’s new subscription singles club. The first was the wildly amusing, insanely mismatched, and surprisingly good split between Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and L.A. Guns. This installment contains two tracks, a cross-section of the kind of material to expect, from Austin’s punk pride, the OBN III’s. Fans of Bad Sports should be well aware of sole member Orville Neeley. Orville Bateman Neeley = OBN, get it? It seems to me that Neeley is trying to fill the massive clown shoes left behind by, or was at least greatly influenced by, Jay Reatard. While I’m hardly ready to anoint him yet, Neeley shows promise and is prolific.
This is the moniker’s first output since last year’s debut LP, The One And Only. No strangers to the 7” format, Neeley delivers a primer for new listeners. The first track, “Blood On Yer Face,” is a balls-out rocker that, tonally, is Reatarded. It’s raw and it’s fast and has a cool disjointed opening and closing riff. The second, “Being Honest”, is much slower tempo. It takes the rational view of infidelity, albeit in a crude way: “Calling my bluff/You shouldn’t care who I fucked/You cheated too”. The protagonist admits his feelings but makes no excuses and concedes that it’s time to move on. Hopefully, Neeley doesn’t feel the same away about this project because it gets better with each release.
Check out another of OBN III’s 7“s below:
