Reviews

Digital Regress

Crisis Man Asleep in America LP

I’ve never been a fan of the moniker, I hate any kind of label to begin with, and I understand that it came about more or less organically (and more or less ironically tongue-in-cheek), but I must admit that it made me shy away from bands I saw associated with that thing they call “egg-punk” or “DEVO-core.” Anyway, CRISIS MAN is actually good. Like really, really good.  These songs are full of gushing anxiety and energy that seems to make the songs almost collapse in on themselves. But the songs build complex structures that make them dynamic and always interesting. In addition to that, there are melodic hooks galore, great riffs, a beast of a drummer, a howling vocalist, a bass that throws memorable lines, and above all, what is most appreciated by this writer, a spirit of freedom that is contagious and that makes the band transcend any stylistic delimitation. Egg-what?

Exek Some Beautiful Species Left LP

Orstralian post-punk drone trip that feels like a slowed-down THIS HEAT nitemare with occasional FRIPP guitars and dubbed-out sorta POP GROUP incantations. A modern throwback to sounds made in another neocon fascist era, ominous horror is ours forever and here is the soundtrack… It’s bleak, dense, and not comfortable. This is obviously a great record, but I can’t decide if this paranoia sound is what I want right now, though.

Marbled Eye Read the Air LP

On the distant heels of 2018’s Leisure LP, Oakland’s MARBLED EYE is out with their second LP Read the Air. Vocalist and guitarist Chris Natividad also leads the band’s stranger, moodier cousin in the solo project PUBLIC INTEREST (I reviewed Spiritual Pollution last year, and it took me a minute to remember this connection). With the departure of MARBLED EYE’s original bassist (who also had the studio space and did their production) and the pandemic isolating the band, it’s no wonder this next album took some time, but it is surely worth the wait. Inside we find ten songs of vocal-droning post-punk pleasure, complete with guitars that wander in and out of each other’s riffs without sounding crowded, and disrupter bass and drums that rest and then pummel their way back to the main rhythm. These guys just went on a crazy Midwest and East Coast fall tour, hitting thirteen cities in thirteen days. Wow. Read the Air: not to be missed.

Max Nordile Go To Sleep, Fool cassette

Max is maybe the most prolific musician in the Bay Area right now, seemingly releasing something on cassette or vinyl almost monthly. On this release, Max augments found (?) sounds, field recordings, skronky gear, tape manipulations, broken shit, and saxophones, bending them to his will and creating a wall of cacophonous collapse. Max feels life, and you should feel it with him.

Preening Gang Laughter LP

Sputtering muscular no wave sax/drums/bass trio—No New York fans take note! This has that downtown New York sleaze funk jazz fuck urge down. But maybe with the politics of the CAMBERWELL NOW?! If GANG OF FOUR was free jazz? Mostly because of that bass sound. An Oakland abstract anti-gentrification-art-against-work sound. Alejandra’s vocals rule; she should definitely be the singer of all bands! No joke! Max’s wild wail interspersed with her vocals is some sort of wild planet where D BOON sings back ups for CASTRATION SQUAD, but it’s free jazz. This sorta sound could be punishing, but instead it’s a pleasure. Why not?!

Toyota Toyota LP

Total mongoloid math punk here. Hyperkinetic jazzcore spurts with deadpan staccato robot vocals. If I time travelled to six months ago and told you that in August 2019 and beyond, the latest thing would sound like a DEVO simulation robot programmed by PRIMUS, you’d tell me “so what, URANIUM CLUB have like five albums already.” Rock with no roll for the age of the electric vehicle hot rod rumble where neon-clad Prius-rockers play chicken for cryptocurrency, not pink slips.