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Apr 22, 2020 By Lily Guthrie X

Legendary Los Angeles punks X have surprise released their first new album with the original lineup in 35 years, Alphabetland. Listen to it below, via Bandcamp and Fat Possum.

Alphabetland is the group’s first full-length since 1993’s Hey Zeus!, but it’s their first to feature the original lineup of Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebrake since 1985’s Ain’t Love Grand. Rob Schnapf produced Alphabetland, which is being released the same time that their debut album Los Angeles celebrates its 40th anniversary (it was released on April 26, 1980). X released a new version of their song “Delta 88 Nightmare” last year without any mention of an album to come.

According to an interview with The Los Angeles Times’ Randall Roberts, the band was going to release the album in August, but pushed it forward due to COVID-19. “Let’s give people—at least our audience and maybe beyond that—something that is upbeat,” said Doe. “Something that’s new and vital.”

The agile momentum behind their music set the precedent for a new kind of punk in America, one that melded the group’s folk tendencies with LA’s alternative hardcore scene and fostered their pivotal sound. Since their initial back-to-back successes with the release of Los Angeles in 1980 and Wild Gift in 1981, X have broken up and gotten back together before, but this is a pleasant surprise no one saw coming.

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