Punk rock is over 30 years old now, its essence diluted and desecrated by pale impostors sporting plastic spikes and expensive hair products. But while the West has yet to see a worthy heir to the Ramones tattered leather jackets, from Korea comes a breath of pure anarchy — Galaxy Express.

You don’t need to understand what they’re saying (could anyone understand Joey Ramone’s mumble anyway?) but the urgency, the despondency, the fire…it’s all here, as exciting as it ever was, all over again.

Galaxy Express @The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn. 2K11 Seoulsonic North American Tour, March 24th, 2011