I love a good 33 1/3 7-inch, sound quality-be-dipped. Get as much material out there as possible before the devil gobbles your cock and whatever else you happen to leave hanging in the breeze. On “Desplazados” Gaucho sound like a sloppier Bad Brains fronted by Max Cavalera (c’mon, not that unappealing an idea), driving their high-hats into your ear cavities like vans into a train tunnel and laying down simplistic riffs that possess a nice lil’ KICK-ICK-ICK if you need to wake up in the morning or jump into a swarm of sweaty bodies in the evening. Look, maybe a lot of you are swimming in quality hardcore punk. Me? I can never quite seem to get enough, and thus bands like Gaucho (not to mention Can Can Heads, others) are important to my existence, not to mention my sanity. Tracks like “Manos Atadas” represent such a compact, drilled-in side of the genre (not to mention the little breakdowns wherein that totally extend the life of what would otherwise be minute-long excursions at most) it’s tough to even lump them in with their mostly inferior peers. “Manos” revels in typical Gaucho trappings before a strangely seismic ‘solo’ and sprawling midsection redefine the track, setting up a final riff-run and brief dose of atmosphere (trippy? nope) to close up shop. I always mention Okie Dokie in reviews because I loved their unique antics, and I’m guessing the average listener will cotton to Gaucho just as much. The lofi production is trebly and jammin’ too, emphasizing the aforementioned high-hats/riffs, and that crazy scream, which seems much too unhinged to belong to a Canadian (they’s from Toronto, Ontario). “Cerebro Podrido” is the strongest track, closing out the 7-inch with a fresh coat of angst and lung lacquer.
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