Happened upon the St. Louis trio of Britches awhile back when they had a five song online demo up for download. Admittedly I didn’t give them much thought afterward, but then this album showed up late last year and happily gave them another go around. At the very least the demo was oddball enough to warrant it. They seem to have a recurring thing with incorporating the word “demo” into the name of their releases, this one being Demonstration and the previous release titled Democracy. I assume that these aren’t just cleverly named demos though. Really, this is pretty much a different band than what I remember listening to some time ago when it sounded more like some guys just screwing around and being outwardly weird. With Demonstration the group sounds far more focused; taking a big step away from the simple basement sort of jamming and creating a distinct mood/vibe with a mixture of psych and abrasive noise experimentation. When I received this, it was described to me as being a type of “noisy rock”, which certainly rings true as far as the noisy part goes. However, Britches rock more so in the way of bands like Mouthus and later era Sightings choose to rock. They don’t necessarily achieve the twisting mind altering levels like either those bands tend to, however are certainly operating within the same type of dark and post apocalyptic world. It should be interesting to hear these guys moving forward.
Britches – We’re Both Ready [MP3]
If you’re interested in just checking the entire thing out, the band has it available for free download via their Bandcamp.
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.
Relatively new split LP out on Ulja Factory from two Pittsburgh bands in Free Clinic and Half Nelson, one of which I’ve had the pleasure of hearing before and another that is new to these ears. The a-side is comprised of eight tracks from Free Clinic. Their demo from last year was a pretty promising piece of plodding lo-fi noise that likely perked the interest of those who consider Drunks With Guns, Killdozer, and Feedtime among some of the greatest bands ever. Even if that’s not the case, fans of noise-rock in general should have taken notice. Unfortunately I do not have the piece I wrote about it at the time, but to summarize…I enjoyed it quite a bit. No surprise there I imagine. With their side on this split Free Clinic doesn’t really move away from that approach at all, coming back with eight more tunes of down tuned bass heavy THUD. While a bit more audible this time around, it’s still not by much and the “budget on a dime” character remains as well. The vocals this time around seem a bit more relegated to the background with less shouting/screaming and more of a detached spoken type of thing going on, similar to that of Michael Gira and early Swans. In fact, the track below that I am posting for the Free Clinic side is named SWAN, which I imagine has to be an homage in some way, if it’s not…it’s a hell of a coincidence after hearing it. These tracks though are every bit as punishing as those found on their demo. If you enjoyed that, then this split is a must.
As for Half Nelson, this is my first time hearing the group, project, or whatever it may be. While also lurking around the realm of all things noise, as one would figure here, Half Nelson is a particularly different beast resulting in a rather interesting pairing here. They have a single untitled track consuming the entire b-side of the record. Shifting between a myriad of different clangs, squeals, and motorized hums Half Nelson seem to mash what occasionally sounds like found sound of the inner workings of a power plant and the subtle manipulations of electronics/distortion. Their approach isn’t one that strives to overpower with noise, but rather achieves a certain level of depth with the reduced volume sparking an interest in uncovering more. It’s similar to that of putting your ear against a door in an effort to deduce what may be taking place on the other side. I may not know what I’m hearing, but it remains interesting for the duration and its ability to act as a soundtrack to some degree allows my imagination to run some.
Free Clinic – SWAN (stream)
Half Nelson – Untitled excerpt (stream)
For anyone interested in picking this up, it’s available currently through Ulja Factory. I believe Katorga Works also has some copies of this as well. Only 250 copies pressed, so get it quick. Enjoy!
This originally came out last year through the Ignorant Gore label, however was limited to just a mere 100 copies and pretty much disappeared soon after they were made available. I imagine many were like me and missed out on grabbing it the first time around, and more so, weren’t too terribly interested in paying an inflated price through various marketplaces in order to score a copy. It was a downer for sure. However Permanent Records, as they often do, came to the rescue just recently and decided to reissue this bad boy from ex-Snake Apartment guitarist Ryland Wharton in a run of 300. So if you missed out, don’t hesitate to jump on this one because I imagine it won’t be around for a terribly long time either and I’m not sure we’ll get bailed out again.
King Blood is the solo adventure for one Mr. Wharton, which by making a quick judgment here, should appeal to those who enjoyed the material of which was put out when he was a member of Snake Apartment. With Eyewash Silver however it’s a rather different path taken than that of his previous band, this isn’t some AmRep scuzz or anything of the sort really. Well, it might still be a bit scuzzy and it certainly heaps on the distortion, however King Blood is a project that rides a fine line between psych and drone, often times seeming more like the latter. There are plenty of riffs masked by a thick density of fuzz, but this travels much further into harsher elements than I believe most casual psych fans would care to venture down and in turn much of why I can get behind this. It’s not a booming outburst of heaviness, but it’s loud…quite loud and relies almost completely on the overpowering guitar noise alone with some sparse bass and drums/cymbals to back it. Impressively done and not really noisy for noise sake. Much more to dig into here as it runs through its trance inducing rhythms and mountainous riffs. Good stuff, don’t miss it.
King Blood – Nine Wrong Answers [MP3]
Anyone interested in grabbing a copy of Eyewash Silver can get a hold of one currently at Permanent. I suggest acting quickly. In the meantime, enjoy!
If I still had all the old content available on the blog, you’d probably quickly notice that Pink City is becoming a popular name among these pages. Featuring their two previous online singles in some form or another, they’ve quickly responded by pumping out their debut album Designing Women and again pushing their way from my speakers and onto these pages. Also, If the name of the album is a reference to the past TV show of the same name, then kudos. My mother is a huge fan.
Pink City is an interesting case even with the music removed from the picture. The two individuals who make up the band actually live nowhere near each other. I’m talking across major masses of water here. However, you’d never know it by listening to these tunes or any of their previous material for that matter, as Pink City are no different than if three or four guys were banging out these tracks in a garage somewhere. Aside from the drum machine, there really is no telling and even with that it gives the band the sort of mechanized aesthetic that works to their advantage. The sort of primitive drubbing that it provides in combination with the bands mass of gnarled noise gives them a very cold and menacing sound that shares similarities to that of early Swans or, as I’ve mentioned before, Distorted Pony. With Designing Women however, Pink City show off a side to them we hadn’t heard yet by laying off the distortion some and veering somewhat into full experimental noise mode. Tracks like “Family Therapy” and “Endless Night” are prime examples and see the band pursuing darker territories with the latter even adopting a bit of a gothic vibe to it. Very cool and in a way reminds me of some of what the Pain Teens would occasionally churn out. It’s good to see Pink City not fully relying on overpowering noise however, and realizing that the combination of noise and atmosphere is a very powerful tool when done effectively. They’ve certainly accomplished that here with Designing Women. Great stuff.
Pink City – The Operator (stream)
Anyone interested in picking up Designing Women can do so by simply hitting up their Bandcamp page. Well worth it if you dig the tune above!
