Electric Chair - Social Capital

Trae Brown of Electric Chair at Farewell Transmission, 2019. Photo by Aaron Rhodes.

Electric Chair plays so fast that it's breaking some peoples' brains. The Olympia, Washington hardcore punk band -- featuring Kansas City natives Trae Brown on vocals and David Kupsch on drums -- released its third EP this past Friday and one of the first YouTube comments on it accused the band of speeding up the recordings. Needless to say, the comment was quickly memed into oblivion and the became talk of the American hardcore social media sphere for the day. Hopefully not lost amid the memes is the fact that Social Capital is among the finest 7-inch records of the COVID era.

There isn't a dull moment throughout the nine-and-a-half minute runtime of Social Capital. Brown, an active hardcore frontperson for over a decade now, is still penning no-holds-barred anti-authoritarian screeds and performing them with palpable contempt; truly one of the greats as far as modern hardcore goes. Then there's guitarist Dominic Munoz' blazing riffs. While still distinctly punk, there is a certain amount of heavy metal theatrics involved in Munoz' playing (think Fast Eddie), making sure to keep the rock in punk rock (and really, the punk in punk rock, too, for that matter). This record also may contain Kupsch's most exceptional playing in his lengthy catalog -- just listen to the fills on "Gutter."

If you're still having trouble believing a band is capable of delivering such an intense, whiplash-inducing rocking, you can always watch them perform the songs live in an empty Capitol Theater.

Stream or download the EP below.