Bueno – “Assed Out” (Stereogum Premiere)

Bueno – “Assed Out” (Stereogum Premiere)

There are a lot of bands who claim to be “from New York,” which generally means that their members actually hail from god-knows-where U.S.A. New York is the kind of city that, when you ask people “Where are you from?” it’s guaranteed that 75 percent of the time, they won’t be natives. Bueno is one in a dozen Brooklyn-based bands who aren’t just from New York, they’re from Staten Island New York, which is probably as New York as New York gets, since most transplants have never hopped on the (free!!) ferry to explore the oft-forgotten borough. “Authentic” is a messy adjective, but its easy to argue that Bueno’s music is so aesthetically in-line with the greats of New York punk that it should just be considered a new iteration of the era’s definitive catalogue; to outsiders, their songs sound like self-referential illustrations of what it’s like to live and work and grow up in the big city. Luke Chiaruttini has the kind of dead-eyed, unenthused rambling vocal patterns that could rival Lou Reed’s on his 1989 album New York, but on “Assed Out,” accompanying guitar licks force Chiaruttini to pick up the pace. This is a single worth listening to on repeat, as clever lyrical twists start to sound like carefully-penned spoken-word prose in time. The guys in Bueno work at one of Brooklyn’s most revered, old-school DIY showspaces, Shea Stadium, and their forthcoming Assed Out 7″ will be released by the venue’s tiny label next month. Listen to the first single below.

The Assed Out 7″ is out 7/3 via Shea Stadium Records.

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