News
Big Ups - National Parks
As fresh and as imperative as the Washington DC heavyweights that came before them. Essential listening.
With a teaser trailer and single dropping just before the Christmas madness kicked in, it was only a matter of time until New York punks Big Ups reared their ugly heads once again. True to expectations, just six short weeks later, the band are back with both a new single and with the confirmation we’ve been waiting for; album number two.
Though the dust has barely settled on the trail of destruction left by previous single ‘Capitalized’, ‘National Parks’ sees front-man Joe Galarraga musing on the maternal sacrifices his mother made, creating a thematic duality between the two singles and giving listeners a taste of the band’s underlying intelligence.
Though while ‘Capitalized’ is two minutes of biting hardcore, ‘National Parks’ reigns in the aggression, replacing it instead with a Fugazi-esque militancy, something reflected in the stop-start bass as much as the dynamic exploration that punctuates the track’s first half. The latter half however sees that catharsis come to a head; a steady corrosion turning the vocal in to angsty acerbic fuzz. It’s raw, it’s emotional, and it’s everything hardcore should be.
Not a band to rest on the laurels of their influence, here Big Ups have created three minutes of blistering punk that acknowledges where it came from, whilst constantly looking ahead. As such both the band, and ‘National Parks’ itself manage to feel both as fresh, and as imperative as the DC heavyweights that came before them. Essential listening.
Read More
Big Ups - Two Parts Together
4 Stars
Enough crunch to keep things exciting right up to its thundering climax.
18th May 2018, 7:52am
Big Ups - Before a Million Universes
3 Stars
Thirteen tracks that take a bubbling disenchantment and rarely fail to boil over into all-out visceral aggression.
4th March 2016, 10:00am
Tracks: Animal Collective, Big Ups & More
The DIY writers pick out the biggest and best songs from the last seven days.
4th December 2015, 12:00am
Big Ups - Capitalized
A feeling of disquiet and discontent defines Big Ups’ return.
3rd December 2015, 12:00am
Popular right now
Featuring Green Day, English Teacher, Everything Everything, Caity Baser and more!