The Repos-Hearts and Heads Explode LP (2006)

"Failure takes a lot of effort so I'm digging half a hole"-The Repos, "Half a Hole"

The Repos were one of the first bands I saw when I got into DIY hardcore in 2002/03. Even as a charming and precocious young lad with bad acne and X'd hands, I was quite impressed by their blitzkrieg bop-they never played a set longer than 11 minutes or so. Their last show in Madison, with Punch in the Face and way too many other awesome bands, was the social event of the year for midwestern lumpen like micelf.
   
Almost a decade later, I'm still listening to them as a morose grad student who watches paint dry when not reading medieval court records. The Repos are perfect for all sorts of drunken oblivion, but especially the slamdancing-around-your-bedroom-in-joy and drunken-nihilistic-torpor types. Nuts to yer "mysterious guy"/YouthAttack fetishism, The Repos were a special sort of smartdumb awesome that only the Midwest is capable of producing. So sit back, crack a six pack, and wait for the punch in the face that is The Repos in all their glory.

Goddam that rotten prison moon. Shit's madmuch outta print (it's a YouthAttack release, whaddayathink?), but the boys are in a new band. Called The Ropes. Sometimes playing Repos songs. If you haven't seen them yet and live in Chicago, you're either in a coma or a fool. While waiting for the next show, check out an interview with The Repos (not the Ropes, mind you).

*EDIT, 9.20.12: REUP is HERE.*

*Edit, 1.9.14: Reup'd it again, HERE.*