Well, I've certainly heard of recording an album and then not releasing it for a year or two for various reasons. But how about having an album in the can for nearly three decades? That's something! The debut album from Moscow, Idaho's The Genetics was released yesterday — 27 years to the day after it was recorded. Even if this record stunk, it would be an essential piece of Pacific Northwest punk rock history. Active from 1988-99, The Genetics were the band Joel Jett fronted after Jetpack and before The Flip-Tops, The Minds, and Girl Drink Drunks (who are still the best American punk band you might not know about). The group also included Lucas Jones (The Pills, The Electric Eye), Sarah Epstein (The Hunches, Jimmy Flame & The Sexxy Boys), and Dan Mohr (VIC-20, The Bismark). All these individuals were young and still learning how to play, but this record shows how undeniable their raw talents were. Even if this a record had been made by four people you never heard of, it would still be a prime artifact of late '90s garage punk. It's everything that made the budget punk of that era great: trashy, lo-fi, primitive, and exploding with attitude. I'm pretty astounded that it took this long for these recordings to see the light of day. This is an excellent album that would have been warmly received on the eve of Y2K. Now you can own it on vinyl (limited to 100 copies). Original songs like "It's a Fright" and "Psycho Love" absolutely foreshadow the greatness of The Flip-Tops, and covers of Supercharger and Teenage Head are an absolute blast. If you're a fan of Joel Jett or later '90s garage punk, you will want to move fast on this purchase!
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