For its second and final full-length, Excuse 17 recorded a glorious punk rock racket far more polished and catchier than the band’s promising, self-titled debut. Nearly every track here simmers with an overwhelming sense of urgency, and from the opening whiplash crash of “5 Acres” to the more subtly moving “She Wants 3-D,” it’s an album full of violently emotional catharsis (check out the startling centerpieces “This Is Not Your Wedding Song” and “The Drop Dead Look”). Often mesmerizing in the chaotic call and response between vocalists Carrie Brownstein and Becca Albee — a rudimentary version of Brownstein’s vocal interplay with Corin Tucker in Sleater-Kinney during the years to come — Such Friends Are Dangerous is a swan song that only hints at what could’ve followed. Of course, as many fans of the Pacific Northwest scene know, what would follow for guitarist Brownstein is the wildly successful and talented Sleater-Kinney trio. – Jimmy Draper
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