Scraper: Scraper

Scraper is a San Francisco punk band, and listening to their new eponymous EP, it feels like a relic from music’s past. Near past, perhaps, but still past. The fully contained 7-inch EP isn’t something we see too often, and certainly not something we see done this well. This scuzzy fury of a set — full of tensed-up tracks such as “Electric Hairpiece” and “Plastic Head” clashing with the propulsive sludge of “Alien Eyes” or “Time” — was recorded by Ty Segall and Eric Bauer, but this is no repeat of Segall’s bright lo-fi haze.

This is the shadow to Segall’s light, a rumbling storm-cloud of bleating guitars, wailing vocals, and a steady, sinister rhythm section. The band hits with six songs in under 15 minutes, but everything feels as long as it needs to be here, the full set sounding complete but, more importantly, urgent. There’s some serious song-craft hidden under all the gauze here, so you wonder what a bit extra fidelity might do for these guys, but Scraper is still a hell of a first offering.