Kid Puto: Kid Puto

On their debut 7-inch EP, Kid Puto turn the bile-spewing of early '80s hardcore punk into oldies-revue fodder. The quintet, fronted by male and female vocalists "Tweedle Drunk" and "Tweedle Drunkerer," respectively, incisively take on the potter's field of what was once outrageously shocking and expose the hilarity inherent in the original form—that Achilles' heel of adolescent male self-importance—with gloriously thrilling musical returns.

Conceptually, punks challenging the stridency of their own supposedly non-conformist community, a million Xeroxed fliers ago, is about as subversive as one could hope for these days. But when punk rock Sonny and Cher are singing songs called "Your Hat Is Fucked, and So Are You" over razor guitars worthy of Minor Threat, concepts go out the window, because this is just great, joyous, raucous fun.

Each of Kid Puto's six tracks is expertly written and performed with reckless aggression and unforgettable hooks. "Are You Fucking Shitting Me?" opens the EP with the force of a skateboard to the head.

The great rock 'n' roll swindle perpetrated here is so brilliant that it's easy to overlook the actual music, but that goes both ways. The best song might be "AZ Welcomes You." Alternating between accelerating verses and explosive choruses, this is the kind of stuff that could give Maximumrocknroll a fatal identity crisis.