New York City’s Big Ups are in town this weekend, playing tonight in the Subterranean’s downstairs bar and Saturday afternoon at Wicker Park Fest. This spazzy foursome plays straight-ahead, no-frills punk rock, channelling all the greats with the unhinged, desperate vocals of Minor Threat, the melodic sense of the Adolescents, and the fuck-it-all frustration of the Suicidal Tendencies. Today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “Goes Black,” off the band’s 2014 LP, Eighteen Hours of Static, builds from subdued, down-and-out introspection into a full-blown hardcore roar within a brief two minutes and 20 seconds. In an era when everything’s either lo-fi or overwrought, it’s cool to hear some dudes who just want to rip. Check out “Goes Black” below, and be sure not to miss the band at one of its shows this weekend: I caught them at a weird little bar in New York a few years ago, and their fury still rattles me today.