This might be the jewel of that recent spurt of Am Rep reissues. Considered to be one of the band's best, Cows' 1992 album Cunning Stunts just appeared as part of an opening salvo of reissues from the newly re-activated Amphetamine Reptile label, an event that has us here at C-Blast absolutely buzzin'. And it's a perfect pick for this initial spate of reissues from the label, as this, the Minneapolis band's fifth album, continues to be one of the best-loved records in their entire discography, often popping up on "best-of" lists whenever people are discussing their favorite albums that came out through the whole Am Rep/noise rock scene of that era. It's certainly one of my favorites.

From the opening smack of a hand and attendant crying child, to the degenerate blues-punk that the band lurches though on closer "Ort", Cunning Stunts serves up a pugilistic blast of primo early-90s scuzz-punk damage that really stuck out at the time. Thinking back, it's safe to say that nothing else quite sounded like the Cows, especially with what the band was doing on this disc. Fusing the sound of wrecked blues and distorted, angular punk to the honking bugle and surreal, stream-of-consciousness lyrics of idiosyncratic frontman Shannon Selberg, these guys belted out a weird and aggressive riff on the whole "cowpunk" aesthetic. Just about every one of these twelve songs is a ripper, hurtling through noisy, primitive, hardcore-tinged tunes like "Walks Alone", "Everybody" and "Mine", to catchier, more melodic tracks like "Mr. Cancelled" and "Down Below". There's an ugly edge to their guitars, with lots of harshly dissonant chords, mutant slide guitar licks, and sludge-encrusted riffs puncturing the pummeling, lumbering pull of the rhythm section, and besides that occasional blast of bleating trumpet, a couple of songs also feature some wheezing, bluesy harmonica. Heavy on the skronk and out-of-tune messiness, this stuff can also be surprisingly poppy, even raggedly beautiful at times; there's a cover of the Midnight Cowboy theme on here that comes out of nowhere, and its haunting refrain melts wonderfully into the rest of the fray. So cool.

Yeah, for me Stunts remains one of the very best albums to come out on Am Rep, striking a great balance between memorable, catchy songwriting and ear-scorching abrasion and volume, continuing to rank as one of the best American noise rock albums of the era by anyone with an inkling of taste. Can't recommend it highly enough if you're into this sort of stuff.