Cop Shoot Cop - Consumer Revolt (1990/2019)

Employing two basses and no guitar, Cop Shoot Cop's debut album proper (following the 1988 EP Headkick Facsimile) sets out the band's agenda - an overpowering wash of staccato riffs and obtuse samples married to harrowing narratives. Though placing them amid the burgeoning industrial music scene, Cop Shoot Cop's aesthetic shares something with New York's No Wave explosion of the late '70s. There is light at the end of their bleak tunnel of nihilism - even a kind of urban romanticism. And, like fellow travellers Big Black, Cop Shoot Cop recognize the importance of hooks, which resonate throughout their best songs. Initially issued on a tiny Long Island indie, it was later picked up by UK-based label Big Cat. The two longest tracks, "Burn Your Bridges" and album-closer "Eggs For Rib" are the highlights.