I’ve followed Craig Clouse through just about everything he’s done, most notably his more rock leaning projects like Crown Roast or TODD, but Shit and Shine has always been the most challenging of the bunch. More of an outlet to dabble in the harsher and possibly disorienting realms of power electronics, samples, basic guitar distortion, and synthesizers Shit and Shine is further muscled up with stacks of amps and multiple percussionists at times to create an amalgam of noise that really is quite like no other.
In the past Shit and Shine took to the chopped and screwed cuts of electronics and placed them against mammoth like simple riffing for desirable results more often than not. Blown out and punishing, the hulking mess created by such did well in further blurring the lines between straight noise and rock. Over the course of what has become a fairly prolific catalog, Shit and Shine has followed a similar track of that of fellow experimentalists Sightings. Both bands have went from the harsher beginnings of malfunctioning amps and sheer noise barrages towards a more bastardized form of rock that actually hits more nerves than their noisier pasts ever managed to. It’s with Shit and Shine’s latest album Jream Baby Jream where I believe they’ve really hit upon a great mixture of past and present, provoking feelings of paranoia, dread, and levels of discombobulation without sacrificing much of the groups infatuation with beat driven electronics. After a short thirty second intro, Shit and Shine hits with full force on “Dinner With My Girlfriend” by employing the use of swirling feedback to continually wrap around a HUGE blown out beat for the duration of nine minutes. It’s as close to “doom” as the group will likely ever get, but it’s an epically sized helping no doubt and one of the finest things on the album. Another highlight is on the flip side of the record with the roughly ten minute “Rodeo Girls” that develops a bit of a retro vibe to it thanks in part to an uncharacteristically danceable beat and guitar twang throughout that repeats in loop like fashion. It’s like one of those movie sequences where someone is walking down a huge city street surrounded by nothing but people, cars, and skyscrapers only the person walking is in no doubt inebriated and terrified. The album as whole operates greatly on a backbone of recurring beats and ambiance to create its creepy theatrics. The balance shown here though is fairly impressive.
Shit and Shine – Dinner With my Girlfriend (stream)
Those interested in grabbing a copy of Jream Baby Jream can do so by heading over to Riot Season. Limited to 400 copies with no repress.
Can’t say that I get too many 3-inch CD’s in the mail. In fact, I don’t think I ever have until this little four song EP from the Brooklyn duo Trabajo showed up. I wasn’t really too interested in ripping it to my computer as I remember the only other time I had to deal with one of these was a lengthy and troublesome time spent getting it out of my computers CD tray. Thankfully they had this one up elsewhere for free download and saved me the worry of having to possibly deal with that sort of thing again. That aside, Trabajo present an interesting take on post-punk with the tracks featured here that often lean more so to the noisier/experimental side of things. They rely heavily on big distorted drum & bass beats and a number of samples that often have a tribal/ethnic side to them, which makes for a nice listen whenever it pops up. The vocals are a bit unnecessary in the grand scheme of things here, as they are indecipherable and mixed a bit too low to even have them be noticeable anyway. Overall though, the music has some good ideas going for it that seem to be put to use in different ways from track to track. Consider me intrigued.
Trabajo – Two Horns [MP3]
From what I understand this thing was super limited and has probably long since sold out. However there is nothing stopping anyone from grabbing it for free on their Bandcamp page, albeit track by track.
Process Praise is the second album from the highly touted Tasmanian duo Native Cats out now on Ride the Snake. Their first album Always On was a fantastic and interesting channeling of what could be considered a merging of standard pop and stripped down bass centric post-punk. The first album had a noticeable bounce to it, certainly one that leaned heavier on the pop side of things and the sweet sound of Casiotone. With Process Praise the duo has lessened that vibe some, still working heavily with the lo-fi tones that are a vital part of what they are, but I don’t recall the bit of edge that the album brings to their sound. Not that there is an influx of added sounds here. There really can’t be unless they decide to abandon their approach altogether, and that certainly wouldn’t be a good thing. However, the lyrics by both Peter Escott and Julian Teakle take on a somewhat more spiteful tone or one that even comes off as confrontational at times. Process Praise as a whole seems like a colder/darker affair for the duo, reeling off stories of late night fumbling, social awkwardness, and annoyances. It would be a rather ideal record to listen to and make your way through a number of stiff drinks in the process. With that aside though, they’ve found a comfortable area to work within and it shows by how much they get out of these tracks with such a bare bones approach. I mean I guess that’s always been the case, but it becomes increasingly apparent on Process Praise that it’s been honed in to a near perfection. The way that they are able to build ever so slightly on the the bass lines provided by Teakle is a skill that absolutely can’t be ignored. Timing is surely a significant cog to their success and really has to be when constructing their songs. No matter, they keep it all rolling here…maybe under a different mindset…but it’s a rather nice change that doesn’t obstruct the big picture. Take a listen…
Native Cats - Wearing the Killer (stream)
For those interested in picking up Process Praise can do so by hitting up Ride the Snake. Definitely do so if you enjoy what you hear. Enjoy!
