As I stood outside of Trans Pecos one night guzzling 32 ounces with AJ Pantaleo and Mikey Gagliardi, drummer and guitarist/sax player of Bueno, we counted the bands currently playing around in Brooklyn who actually hailed from the city of New York. We counted maybe seven or eight: The Gradients, Big Neck Police, No One and the Somebodies, Turbosleaze, Heeney (only Max Kagan), Bluffing, The So So Glos… I’m sure there are more, but it’s undeniable that the vast majority of Brooklyn bands are not from Brooklyn or New York City. Bueno is one of those bands, but they’ve got the “Staten Island” tag to go along with it, which, even if you’re not from New York, you know is the least popular of the five boroughs. That makes Bueno doubly unique, which is something they don’t take lightly. Besides putting on Staten Island shows with bands like Cymbals Eat Guitars (another SI band), they also have shirts that boast a map of the borough—to which people will often ask if it’s South America. Go figure.
Now on to the music; Bueno is what I would call downtown-street-punk-jazz. It’s urban nihilism that makes me feel like I’m walking on 42nd street back when it was a different kind of shit hole than it is now. Luke Chiaruttini (every single member of this band has a mouthful for a last name) has a dead-pan expression when he sings, as if he’s too annoyed to be bothered with your Brooklyn bullshit. “C-C-C-C-Convenient”, the first single off their upcoming album, Guilt, is an urbanite rant of pissed off New Yorker rage. There’s just something so undeniably special about a New Yorker’s compassion for anger. “Things are more convenient now than they’ve ever been/Sometimes I forget what it was like back then/Things more easy, fun and fair, it’s nice to know that no one cares,” Chiaruttini drawls sarcastically, as if he really gives a shit.
If you give a shit, stream “C-C-C-C-Convenient” below. Guilt is slated to be released in November.
