Leatherface – Minx

Leatherface
Minx
Roughneck Records

Why a brand-new review of this 1993 album? Our staff’s late-night plans to form a Leatherface cover band notwithstanding, Minx is one of the smartest, toughest punk records out there. Two decades after it was written, the songs here not have not only withstood their age; they are, in fact, stronger. And, at a time when ARTNOISE—and music-loving folk in general—are working hard to find worthwhile records, it’s inspiring to revisit the albums that draw lines in the sand. Here, then, is the first entry in our Punk Foundations series.

Fundamentally, Minx gets its charisma from Frankie Stubbs. His gritty voice, at once comforting and cutting, ushers us through the album. His vocal style, along with the record’s driving tempo and simple melodic lines, recalls the sonics of Hüsker Dü; but it’s the complex wordplay that distinguishes these songs. The lyrical nuances—by turns clever, silly, and unbearably earnest—can be easy to miss under the wash of distortion that cloaks the band; but it’s well worth the effort to catch all the words.

Many of the songs are intensely personal: in “Do the Right Thing,” the album’s sole single, Stubbs plaintively offers himself up to an indifferent world (“You can have me if you want!”) and stands up for the underdogs (“they can beat the world can come back for more”). Later, he rails against easy political answers in “Don’t Work:” “Pretty slogans and the crimes are meaningless tokens—don’t waste your time!” And my favorite Minx tune, “Fat, Earthy, Flirt,” laments people’s petty tendencies, reflecting on human nature in gloriously speedy two-part harmony:

But even as Stubbs lets his heart bleed, he maintains a verbal playfulness—reminding us that this band is, at the end of the day, a bunch of goofy British punks. “Heaven Sent” mixes up social commentary with colorful puns (“The bricklayer’s arse and his smelly stained vest… as a vested interest to be ignored more or less”). In “Books,” a rumination on mortality, there are lines from nursery rhymes (“If only their cupboards didn’t look like Mother Hubbards”). Leatherface are smart, and they take their music seriously—but sometimes they just can’t keep a straight face.

It is this push and pull—this cycling of bravado and vulnerability—that makes Minx so durable. That, of course, and the rockingness of it all. Throw on Minx when you’re in the mood for a new favorite song. You’ll find one here.