Album Review: Tijuana Bibles - Lies

By: Mike Mucus

NJ's Tijuana Bibles have released a couple digital E.P's over the past year. Lies, the most recent effort by the trio has been a particular standout. It straight up sounds like the Ramones meets The Minutemen. At first listen the songs almost sound like incomplete thoughts, but they say what they intend to say with an economy  of words that suggests you don't need any other frilly bullshit to make a punk rock song. Most tracks clock in under the :90 second mark and are often book ended by audio clips of whacked out conversations. This just adds to the ADD-ness of The Bibles. Their frenzied live show isn't much different, singer/bassist Kopp sweats and spits his way to the mic behind a scowl  but its the hooks of the songs that are the real selling points. They'll catch you and just as you start to nod your head they'll be over. The traditional verse/chorus, verse/chorus song structure gets turned on its head. When Kopp sings "I gotta shitty tattoo on my arm", and you realize that one line is the whole song, it makes you think that sometimes, that's all you fucking need.

Listen to the record for free here