Record of the Week: DRIBBLE Lovers 7″
The first pleasant surprise of 2015 came to me all the way from Melbourne, Australia, thanks to this 7″ EP from DRIBBLE. Everything from this band’s name to their art direction — not to mention their provenance via Cool Death and Distort Records — would indicate whiplash-inducing, noisy hardcore slime along the lines of that last VELVET WHIP tape. I’d already cleared all my things off of my desk at my old apartment to avoid knocking anything over due to involuntary thrashing when I dropped the needle onto a riff that sounds like it could have come out of the LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH songbook. A different sort of greasy vibe than the one I was expecting, but a nonetheless appropriate soundtrack to some post/romantic lyrical meditations on obsession, masochism, and wandering through the city streets. Over the course of my own daily meandering online I turned up a flyer for a bill the group shared with LOW LIFE, which sounds like a well-matched lineup of Down Under down-and-outers exploring the dark depths of performing urban masculinity through fuzz and chorus effects. The B-side takes a slightly slower VOIDOIDS-esque trudge into the same streets as they empty out, save for the obsessive wanderers and nihilist observers. We also have one last drugstore cowboy song on this one, riding the same chord progression and arrangement as the last two tunes all the way into the sunset of this short but sweet record. These are streets we’ve walked before, but a lot like a close friend of yours who tells you the same two or three jokes over and over again, it might just grow on you. The labels responsible have assembled a handsome and elegant package here with a sixpanel 14″ x 21″ poster insert and lyric sheet. Naturally, looks like this one is already sold out. If I were to win a wager on the 50-50 chance between some new recordings getting dribbled out and the band going out in a blaze of ignoble glory, I’d put my winnings towards that next 7″. (Cool Death / Distort)
— Eli Wald
