HUBERT SELBY JUNIOR INFANTS
Bingo LP
Eight songs that sound like being punched in the face and high fived at the same time! Four middle-aged men from Ireland use their time machine to bring noisy yet melodic post-hardcore back from the mid-90's.
01. Notions
02. Dumb As An Ox
03. How To Steal A Car
04. Il Bambino Spettrale
05. Jail Money
06. Columbo
07. Build Me A Monster
08. Nonetheless
Released May 16th, 2025
Limited to 278 copies on clown vomit (green / yellow) vinyl.
Co-released with The Ghost Is Clear (USA).
Reviews
After a series of excellent EPs, Dublin's Hubert Selby Jr. Infants grace us with a full-length album and it is, frankly, a right royal shitkicker.
To my mind they occupy a very specific place: that weird no man's land where noise-rock, grunge and post-hardcore bands dipped their toe in waters that were unashamedly poppy. Acts that spring to mind are (deep breath) Jawbox, Arcwelder, Wool, Swervedriver and Sugar: killer bands all, and also ones capable of fusing crunchy punk rock punch with a knack for bleary earworms.
The riffs here careen wildly, fuzz-bashed things that surge wildly this way and that but aren't afraid to drop away and make space when the moment so demands. The vocals snap between grumpy, disconsolate, desperate and occasionally quite joyful, ensuring the band are capable of sanely mixing things up on a three-track run like 'Il Bambino Spettrale', 'Jail Money' and 'Columbo' which, somehow, takes in late night noir croon, spiky punk blasting and a heat-warped version of Silkworm gone grungegaze.
- Alex Deller, Collective-Zine
It's not even close, this band definitely wins the award for strangest name of 2025. And as odd as it is I'm going to guess it's going to make most people take a pass on this. So that's why I'm shining a light on it because objectively odd/bad names aside, this is quite good. Like a rougher, less polished Jawbox with some greasy strut meeting up for cheap drinks with the early 90's AmRep crew they spend the first half of the record punching it with more upbeat and dirty numbers before spending a good chunk of the back half pining on emotionally-drenched melodic compositions. There's a bit of haunting melancholy with some of the guitar effects and vocals, particularly on tracks like "Build Me A Monster" and the reverb'd out swagger of "Bambino". Still, it's hook-y throughout whether they're on a rock 'n' roll crash-course like the Jehu-esque "Jail Money" or the aforementioned slow burners. They may have chosen a moniker that's not exactly rolling off the tongue, but they have created a batch of songs that will stay stuck in your head. I can appreciate that.
- Ryan Canavan, Hex
Non nous ne sommes pas dans les annees 50 aux USA, les fans de l'ecrivain americain vont etre surpris par ces quatre rockeurs irlandais. HSJI sort son premier album en ce printemps 2025 et celebre ainsi un rock-grunge dans la plus pure tradition des annees 90 quand on parle de guitares, de chant pop et de chemises a carreaux... J'ai beaucoup pense a Sebadoh / Dinosaur Jr a l'ecoute de ce disque ou en tout cas a cette force des combinaisons des melodies des guitares et du chant. Musicalement, on pourra aussi toucher des univers presque post Hard Core, j'ai pu y deceler du Portrait Of Past, du Karate mais l'idee centrale c'est quand meme d'amener de la melodie dans le rock. Et ces quatres irlandais le font tres bien, ca ne reinvente pas le feu mais ca m'a redonne du soleil dans la tete. Un grand merci a eux.
- STNT.org