Remember how main characters in martial arts movies go apeshit on wooden dummies? That image of raw energy being channeled into a lifeless, skeletal piece of wood somehow personifies the way post-punk has always made me feel.
Spain’s power trio, Juventud Juché, are a perfect example of how the stripped-down constraints of garage and post-punk can actually work to your advantage. In the video for the track “Lacras,” directed by Ricardo Roncero, the band only lets us see the bare minimum. We see close-ups of lead singer Javier Molina’s mouth and blood-splattered guitar pickups, Luis Hernandez’s bass, and the relevant parts of Arturo Hernandez’s drum set. The band seems to be in a dark room lit only by the on-camera light.
The song sounds like a frantically deconstructed country blues song with Molina’s abrasive vocal style taking the lead. Although some people could argue that post-punk has been done, Juventud Juché seems to take liberties with these limitations and has been pumping new life into the genre since 2012.