Naked Raygun “Basement Screams” 1983, 7″ bootleg rerelease, label unknown. Writing about Big Black yesterday got me thinking about Naked Raygun (Naked Raygun’s guitarist Santiago Durango and vocalist Jeff Pezzati both joined Steve Albini in Big Black, recording concurrently with both bands in the mid-80′s). Basement Screams was Naked Raygun’s first release, eight minutes of blistering and sophisticated post-punk. Not all of the six tracks evolve the punk genre straight out of knucklehead swagger. “I Lie” opens with the lyrics “I lie right to your face/Not because i want to, or have to/Cause you make me/Lie to your face/I hate your guts, you stupid schnut!” (or possibly he is shouting “slut” – it’s hard to tell) and tracks like “Potential Rapist” and “Bombshelter” address the fear and violent reality of American life like many other punk bands (“Bombshelter’s” lyrics simply consist of the repetitive shouting of the word “bombshelter”). But musically Naked Raygun blends complicated rhythms (“Mofo” takes a Bo Diddley beat into a militaristic hyperdrive), saxophone (on “Swingo”) and melodic basslines making the label “punk” or even “post-punk” relevant more for Naked Raygun’s attitude and delivery than the simple 3-chord, one-two-fuckyou that characterized most 80′s hardcore releases.