SC Distributon

New York's Pop.1280 are back with their debut full length for Sacred Bones -- The Horror. This record comes almost one year after their highly praised EP The Grid, and it finds the band exploring new territory and perversions. Chief songwriters Chris Bug and Ivan Lip are now joined by drummer Zach Ziemann (ex-Twin Stumps) and bassist/sonic manipulator Pascal Ludet. Recording for The Horror took place at the Python Patrol basement studios in Brooklyn with engineer Ben Greenberg (Z's, Pygmy Shrews). The Horror showcases a lot more improvisation and in-studio writing, giving the album a darker, more unhinged organic feeling. This new approach let the band stretch out more, and while they haven't lost the synth-punk skronk that has gotten them compared to Pussy Galore, D.A.F. and Cop Shoot Cop, The Horror adds longer songwriting explorations and psychedelic-scapes that reference bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Chrome, and early Sonic Youth. Thematically, The Horror finds Pop. 1280 stepping out of the cyberspace of the Grid and into the deserted beaches, highways and plains of a surreal hell. It's the road album for the post-apocalypse.

Pop. 1280 are a cyberpunk band from New York City. The Grid is their first 12" release. Members include: Chris Bug, Ivan Lip, John Skultrane, and Andrew S. They got together in 2099 and have released two 7" records, the most recent being a self-released single and split 7" with Philadelphia’s Hot Guts. As dark and sinister as the Jim Thompson novel from which the band borrows their name, these nine dirges of skronky noir are the logical successor to the brand of scree practiced by forebearers the Chrome Cranks, Honeymoon Killers, and Pussy Galore, and along with contemporaries Twin Stumps, White Suns, Woman, and York Factory Complaint are ushering in a new era of punk. Their music is all about the future that has already happened. Think Videodrome-era David Cronenberg mixed with Escape From New York-era John Carpenter. The Grid was recorded in April of 2010 in the basement of a closed Catholic School. On it are six songs using synthesizers, scrap metal, racoon-screech guitar, and samples about the freaks that inhabit The Grid. Step into it.