[engl] Street Stains is undoubtedly one of those that you need to hear as soon as possible. Their 10? self-titled album is a masterpiece that showcases the impressive collective talent of Chris Richards (Q and Not U, TK Echo, Paint Branch) and Sean McGuinness (Pissed Jeans). This material captivates the audience with its abrasive riffs, thought-provoking lyrics, and overall attention to detail. Their debut carries fourteen exceptional compositions that will satisfy even the pickiest punk rockers. However, their version of this particular music genre comes with a twist. Besides all the punk rock fundamentals, you may expect some of the finest properties borrowed from other complementary music genres like garage rock, noise rock, or maybe grunge. Of course, all these additional elements serve more like enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details while they remain loyal to the primary sonic direction. Street Stains glide through all the significant eras of these music genres, so you may notice how their music blossoms with the qualities of late sixties to mid-seventies garage rock, late eighties indie and noise rock, and early nineties grunge. Still, the duo combines all these with all the eras that made punk rock sound incredibly catchy, energetic, aggressive, and dynamic. Some listeners might notice the lack of bass guitar from the mix, but the heavily distorted, abrasive, and raw chord progressions and riffs compensate for it. However, these compositions don’t sound stripped down by any means. Quite the contrary, it’s pleasantly surprising how luxurious and detailed they seem, considering there are no basslines to support some of these guitar maneuvers with more clarity and density. Every composition comes with a comprehensive collection of brilliant ideas showcased by the exceptional musicianship provided by these experienced musicians. It’s also interesting how these musicians articulate together throughout the entire album, and you’ll notice they’re enormously organized and precise on each track. It’s also good to mention that the duo thoroughly thought about all the vocal arrangements, and you’ll hear how the perfectly balanced ratio of low, mid, and high notes suit these songs. Chris Richards and Sean McGuinness thought about everything while assembling this material, and their debut 10? is something you need to hear if you’re into raw and catchy punk rock sound. Also, this vinyl is a fine piece of art, thanks to Expert Work Records. The die-cut packaging looks divine, and the combination of colors is so effective. This visual identity follows the dark and light blue split color vinyl, and Street Stains 10? will appeal to all the punk rockers looking for a divine audio-visual experience. In the summer of 2008, Chris took the bus from Brooklyn to Philadelphia every Thursday afternoon to jam with Sean and watch the Olympics. They wrote more than 30 songs.Then they forgot about them until January of 2013. Chris was now living in D.C., and Sean convinced Aaron to cart his Tascam-388 up to Philly for an afternoon of recording. Captured on tape for the ages, these songs were quickly abandoned once more -- until the summer of 2014, when Chris finally recorded the words with Aaron back in D.C. Everybody forgot about the songs one more time before reconvening to mix them in the spring of 2015. And then -- after another two years had vanished into oblivion -- presto! "Street Stains" was released in January 2017 and can finally be forgotten forever.