Flys

When the San Pedro, CA, punk collective F.Y.P fell apart in 1999, what rose from the ashes was Toys That Kill, a band named after the last F.Y.P album. Toys That Kill released two full-length albums on their own Recess label before joining the Asian Man label and releasing this limited-edition four-track EP. It's a complete hoot, starting with the good-humored gross-out title track (which sounds strangely like a cross between early Hüsker Dü and the Cramps) and continuing through the headlong rush of "Brave Kids Jump," an affectionately rendered Wire cover, and a long but briskly tuneful singalong called "Blake St. Valentine." Good-humored without being goofy, skillful without being virtuosic, and respectful of the past without being derivative, Toys That Kill have a great future ahead of them if they can hold it together.