The bones of punk remain three chords and a dream. Way back when, punk simply meant the bands weren't very good with their instruments. That and a willingness to incite and accept crowd aggression. But that was 40 years ago, and anyway, bands like the Stooges and New York Dolls were quite accomplished musically. That whole "anyone can play punk" trope is pretty lazy.

Lars Frederiksen To Victory EP (Pirates Press)

This six-song set from Lard Frederiksen is largely him and a guitar (sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric) doing the demo treatment. Some of these are his songs, some aren't. If you're familiar with Frederiksen's post-Rancid career, you'll probably recognize most here.

Like the Joey Cape/Tony Sly acoustic set that Fat put out almost 20 years ago (!!), these recordings prove that punks really do know how to write songs. Definitely more of a curiosity than any sort of definitive statement, this EP provides me one of the most enjoyable 17 minutes I've spent in ages. Completely irrepressible.

Jon Worley