Mustangs And Madras

La Lechuza

Latest Flame

originally published July 11, 2007

The Socs are what Ponyboy Curtis refers to as "white trash in Mustangs and madras shirts" in the novel The Outsiders. It's a wonder, then, as to why a post-hardcore band from Longmont, CO, chose Mustangs and Madras as its moniker, especially considering three of the five members describe themselves as "Mexican and proud." Are they being ironic? Maybe they're just big fans of S.E. Hinton.

This posse from Colorado plays pretty damn good hardcore punk with a dash of art-rock leanings, wicked fast guitar and drum combos, and plenty of dissonance in the melody. The whole album leaps out of the speakers from beginning to end, without going into the watered-down screamo direction some bands fall into. This debut album would've done ridiculously well in that early '90s West Coast hardcore scene, though, right away Mustangs and Madras draws comparisons to Fugazi and the guys most likely have every At The Drive-In record ever made between the five of them.

Their lyrics are often cryptic but do smack of anti-authoritarianism: "Our kind navigator lied / Perhaps he never meant well / But he helped us tell some tall ones / Flesh for blood, blood for taste / Let me kiss your dirty face." This kind of sentiment rings out all over La Lechuza, including the subversive "Paradox of Grace" which features troubling snippets of 9/11 phone calls. "Dangling Modifier" is perhaps the best track (if not the longest) on the album, including one of the most exhaustive, grimiest and energetic outros of the year.

Charley Lee