Got a lot of times for bands who still take the time to put a demo tape together and ping it over to the likes of us with a handwritten note, and the deal’s all the sweeter when the tunes end up being this fucking ace. For the most part, Sauna Youth play neat, frill-free punk rock. The first five tracks are catchy, melodic and belt along at a fair old pace, sounding to these ringing ears kinda like Career Suicide trying their hand at some Modern Machines numbers. Standout amongst them is probably the hyper-snotty ‘Vacuous Idiot’, but after that things take a slightly different turn: ‘Martin’ (a Snuff cover?) closes the a-side with a strange, dreamy vibe that almost sounds like it could’ve been recorded outside in the rain while some Pebbles band plays a slowdancin’ number at a drunken frat hop, while the ten-minute bit on side-b is a spoken word affair, all of which suggests there’s perhaps more to Sauna Youth than just three chords and the ability to pen an awesome punk tune.
