The first few songs bop around and hide their catchy hooks beneath warm’n’fuzzy distortion. The tempos are quick and Bangles-ish and the topics airy and fun.
The sampler-oriented five song release displays their psycho-thrash sound honed into a razor sharp vision of urban nightmares and introspective realities.
Ugly contains all the thrash trio’s classics from their EPs as well as newer stuff. Their mid-’80s thrash and burn is refreshing without being nostalgic.
You’re in for a real treat if you dig sultry vocals, virtuoso piano playing, and personal, witty lyrics that are at times funny, depressing, or cynical.
The funky, hip-hop thing el Dopa does serves them well; when they push toward a complicated, multi-layered style, they occupy both your mind and your feet.
Standard ’80s rock juiced with ’90s punk sarcasm and energy, broken into 12 songs littered with hooks, humor, sneering, bubblegum, and junk culture overload.