ist "Boyfriend" on Punk Fox Records

A posthumus single release from the Leicester, UK band Ist on the Punk Fox label with a track that first appeared on their 2004 Freudian Corduroy full length. This probably being the last vinyl format release for the band who broke up in 2010 to pursue other personal projects. They seem to have been willing to incorporate a number of genres and out of the box rock instrumentation but this single is a blinders on, muscly rock track.

A-Side's "Boyfriend" opens with a burst strummed acoustic, ruffling the strings only to blow out a measure later with feedback fueled heavy chords knocking out a blues sounding gravely rock mostly driven by the best lyrics. It takes a minute to get to the punchline, the narrator is pissed but your not ready for the chorus. I hate your fucking boyfriend / I hope he fucking dies / Id like to rip his head clean off / and then piss in his eyes. Kenton Hall on vocals has a snarling low register delivery like a tough Jonathan Richman in his straightforward way of getting right to the point. He commits to this track in a ballsy way in this cleanly produced heavy rock, not to mention there wasn't much chance of this being played anywhere with his over the top pure hatred for the boyfriend. There's also a good chance you'll come up with something interesting when you're decisively all in like this.
B-Sides "Boyfriend (Window Licker Mix) must be a reference to Richard James and here sounds more of a demo version of the track with no windscreen on the mic and those guitars are forced to the center with less depth, that opening strum following through the entire track. More acoustic shows up and the gaps between lyrics have more space but Kenton still gives this version a serious effort. The solo is intact, might even be the same take cleaned up a bit and next to the muted electric strums sound empty. A cool insight to their process but that tight, packaged A-Side is exactly what the track needed to really get through to that asshole.

Splatter clear vinyl from Punk Fox who deliberately has no online presence but there's a copy for sale on Discogs or check with your local distro/record store if they can get this or contact Chris at chris(dot)punkfox at gmail.