The mighty Night Court, already on its fourth full-length album, continues to stand out as one of the most unique and exciting groups in contemporary punk music. Out now on the venerable Recess Records, $hit Machine finds Emilor, Jiffy, and Dave-O growing more creative and ambitious than ever without the slightest diminishment in songwriting quality. Depending on which track you landed on, you might peg Night Court as garage punk, indie rock, post-punk, pop-punk, new wave, or hardcore punk. Of course Night Court manage to be all those things and none of them at the same time. They just sound like themselves, and this is a great example of a band where every member is crucial to the group as a whole. Night Court would not be Night Court if it weren't these exact three individuals working in harmony, and it's their collective talent and worldview that sets this band apart.
As always, these three prove to be masters of writing with efficiency. $hit Machine squeezes 17 songs into less than 27 minutes (that's a minute and a half per song). Yet all these songs sound complete and fully realized in spite of their brevity. From start to finish, it's nothing but awesome tunes. There are not a whole lot of 27-minute albums that feel this epic and sprawling. So you get the auditory experience of an hour-long sonic adventure in half that time — which is ideal considering how precious time has become in a world where the amount of things we can choose to consume it are virtually limitless. The skeptical person might wonder why this band finds it necessary to release such a large volume of music. But $hit Machine, like its predecessors, is devoid of anything close to filler. If these folks did write a couple sub-par tunes for this album, they left them on the cutting room floor. And speaking from my own experience of struggling with inspiration, I must commend this band for striking while the iron is hot. If the songs keep coming to you, you ought to keep recording them and keep releasing them. It's better for you as an artist to get your creations out there while they still reflect your recent experience, and it's better for the world to not have to wait additional years to hear such great music. Don't bother questioning the roll Night Court is on —just enjoy it! All the band's albums have been great, but $hit Machine is without doubt the best of the lot. The vinyl is limited to 300 copies, so act now if you want this bad boy in your record collection!
