Bum Kon

Bum Kon is a name known to many Denver music fans, but only longtimers have actually heard the landmark '80s thrash combo. Now, subsequent generations will get the chance. The folks behind the indie imprint Local Anesthetic discovered the tapes that make up Drunken Sex while compiling material for a recent label overview — 25 Bum cuts, of which twenty were never released.

No denying that some tunes, including "Reagan Sucks," fail to transcend the period-piece designation. But "Giving In" and others work as more than noisy documents from another age, while pace-changers like the appropriately sludgy "Slow Death" suggest that bandmates Bob McDonald, Mark Thorpe, Erik Oberhausen and Larry Denning could have developed into an even better band given time, resources and luck.

And that's no Kon.