by Jare C (@jareccurtis)
When it comes to underground music scenes, the list of cities where a working artist can successfully thrive with a musician's income becomes smaller and smaller every year. However, places like Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and Toronto have continually shown to be hamlets for those with the ability and resources to carve out their own spot in a scene, with many small and midsize acts finding success in their own independent markets, creating vibrant DIY communities and growing through them towards bigger labels and opportunities. When you think of young up-and-coming punk and independent music communities, you likely don’t think of Binghamton, an unassuming city in the southern tier of New York State.
However, within the past five years, many local and local-ish (oftentimes made up of college students and transplants from New York City, Pittsburgh, and other larger, less-college friendly cities) acts have popped up in Binghamton, combining a youthful make-it-up-as-you-go mentality, coupled with a strong sense of community discovery and small-town hopefulness. Bands like feeble little horse, Pinkshift, and TAGABOW, while maybe not originating in Binghamton, have found strong success amongst the community there, and have frequently played within its DIY venues, playing alongside many of the artists that make up the pillars of the scene. This atmosphere brings to mind a scene like Olypmia, Washington in the early to mid 1990’s, a community that has been praised for years for laying the groundwork for the success of many influential grunge, punk, and riot grrrl acts that peppered the pacific northwest during that time.
This environment has become a fertile playing ground for many bands, who can really find a niche, provided that they can meet the young scene with a creative and engaging approach. Enter a band like Off Beat Degradations - a four-piece punk project mixing elements of post-hardcore, early 00’s pop-punk, queercore, and speed punk that has been captivating crowds in basements and the local museum annex since their inception in the summer of 2023. Forming through a combination of Craigslist ads and tried-and-true show scouting, Off Beat Degradations has become a steadfast pillar of the upstate and western New York scene in a very short amount of time. Their debut EP, Fluoxeteen, captures the young band in their rawest, most sensual, and energetic form.
From the jump, the EP is very rough around the edges, you get the sense that the band took whatever they had lying around to best record it and mic’d everything directly. Luckily, the style and density of the band’s collective presence is perfectly supported by this kind of setup, and the tenacity in which they attack each track showcases them very well. The opening track, “HHFOG,” introduces the whole band honestly and truly - groovy bass, varied and speedy drumming, punchy and thrashy guitar, and the bombastic and dynamic approach of the band’s lead vocalist. In true punk fashion, OBD has no qualms with mixing the sexy with the grotesque, with tracks like “Lobotomize,” “Sea Section,” “FOTF,” and “ICU” mixing vital sexuality with gore - the violent, the medical, and the inbetween. In each offering, powerful clean and dirty vocal performances foreground thunderous instrumental builds, all while opening the pit and offering catchy, sing-along melodies.
As a band, OBD has found the perfect time to strike. In a moment where queercore and DIY have found staying power, with acts like Mannequin Pussy, Indigo De Souza, Soul Glo, Sheer Mag, and Wednesday melding lyrics drenched in the highs-and-lows of the experience of being a BIPOC, queer person, or woman with the histories and aesthetics of hardcore, punk, shoegaze, and pop rock. Off Beat Degradations, in their unique way and their unique voice, largely being made up of queer and latinx folks, are pushing that envelope even farther, with a brutal, uncompromising, no frills attack. Fluoxeteen, as a project, is a perfect gateway for this band and their trajectory, marking them a definite up and comer to follow with enthusiasm.