Man. Jason Budjinksi—aka Billy Boloby—fronted a number of pop punks bands, most notably the Mute-Ants, who released a fair amount of stuff throughout the ’90s. Budjinski died in 2015 of an exceptionally brutal gastrointestinal disease. Mutant Pop—who had put out a few of the Mute-Ants records back in the day—recently did this short-run CD-R that reissues the sole Billy Boloby EP from 2003 (with Boloby and a full band this time), along with a demo track. With me so far? So on one hand, sure, it’s a seven-song CD-R. Whomp, whomp. On the other hand, it turns out this was just a fantastic band, hooky as all hell, a sneering, stop-on-a-dime high wire act that merged ’50s rock, ’70s U.K. power pop stuff, and the boundless swagger of a group like the Tranzmitors. Really flawless stuff. I don’t know if there are any labels out there with some extra folding money to spend on a vinyl rerelease of something like this, but dang, it is truly great material.
–Keith Rosson (Mutant Pop)