Hasty is the new three-piece that ties together three NYC punk rock lifers- Michelle Shirelle of the Steinways, Danny Z of the Marshmallows*, and Mikey Erg of every other band there is. The group’s debut, a self-titled EP, is the exact synthesis of the three artists’ style. What’s most fun about the release is how it balances high coconut and ragged rocking. That is, opener “Did you know” is actually crafted a perfectly, classic style pop song, completely with expensive studio “oooooos.” Except, the band, instead of keeping everything nice and pretty, roughs up the sound by slamming through the track in a crashing, bashing spring that is as noisy as it is ramshackle. Frankly, it adds a lot of dynamism to the song and lets it operate on both the “wow what a well crafted song” level as well as the Ny Dolls style will-they make-it-to-the-end? (they always do).

The band approaches thing from a personal level instead of the objective one. There are songs about break ups here, not being confident in ones self, and other break ups…however, the closing track, “this rent is too damn high,” winking to early viral star Jim McMillan, might approach the political from the personal headspace. At any stance, what I like about the collection here is that the songs are all straight from the band’s heart, unfiltered and unshined- that is, they don’t seem to care if they are the “good guy” in the situation, they are just saying how they feel without any governor. That fact is, Hasty caught me by surprise- it’s very catchy, very fun, and it rocks. Let’s hope the band has an KLP in the works. With some more breathing room, they might be able to kick out one of the top albums of the year.

*An amusing anecdote: I was listening to this EP and mentioned to someone that "wow this sounds like the Marshallows", the Marshmallows being a very obscure band that only put out one CD-R EP that I saw at 924 Gilman one time, who were on mid-bill who I just happened to by their CD-R because the Vivian Girls were blowing up and I thought it was kind of Vivian Girls-esque. The person then said to me, "that's because Danny was in the Marshmallows." Its funny how small traces can leave a huge wake.