A steady trickle of new tunes on their bandcamp page already suggested that something new was coming our way from this indispensable pillar of the 2010s garage punk scene, yet it still feels very much out of the blue the way this new LP, their first after roughly a decade, got unceremoniously dropped on bandcamp digitally without warning, a vinyl release via Total Punk to follow sometime later. Also there’s the question hanging over this, after their triumphant return as a touring act last year, as to how much Useless Eaters are actually functioning as a band on this record as there’s this heavily electronic, homegrown quality to these recordings, making heavy use of classic dub production techniques, synths and sampled drums and an otherwise quite guitar-centric sound that kinda suggests this is Seth Sutton fucking around in the studio solo. Not that it matters much. This is a fascinating record presenting an otherworldly mirror version of Useless Eaters, quite familiar in many aspects but also a bit of a reimagining of their sound, very much unlike anything they’ve done before in its abstract, cold abrasiveness, a distinct industrial feel to these tunes that exceeds even the most out-there moments of in their previous discography.
Just as unexpected came the release a couple days earier by G2K, a group which i think is a collaboration between Sutton and Sal Go of Washington group Sexfaces. Anyway, these four tunes act as a neat companion piece to the Useless Eaters record, sharing quite a bit of its production aesthetics but otherwise dabbling in a way more raw and primitive oldschool garage-, art- and proto punk-influenced sound enveloped in that familiar layer of spaced-out haze.
What started out as a duo fronted by Corey Plumb of Spray Paint fame has now grown into a fully fledged band lineup and accordingly, this new LP marks a further step towards a more airy and organic sound aesthetic for the group, which at this point also sounds the most reminiscent so far of his previous Spray Paint work, especially of their later, heavily electronic-leaning phase. That said, this is far from being a lazy retread of times past, as his trademark dissonant guitar work on here blends in a uniquely natural way with a plethora of pulsating sound both organic and electronic, which on one hand have a distinctly industrial feel to them while quite paradoxically retaining a surprisingly playful and warm quality throughout.
The second LP by that Duo featuring none other than Spray Paint’s Cory Plump as well as some mysterious Chris, who has in some capacity worked with Les Savy Fav, Trans Am and Scene Creamers in the past, delivers more of their addictive melange of post punk and noise rock with that certain industrial feel, as experimental as it’s hypnotic and catchy all the same. Maybe it’s just due to the mix and mastering, but the sonic spectrum appears somewhat decluttered here compared to the predecessor with an at times less claustrophobic, more natural feel and plenty of room to breathe. Still tons of Swell Maps or, alternately, Exek vibes to go around though and there’s even a hint of Protomartyr in Rotting Profits, some echoes of Wire in Florida Gasoline.
Not too long after the recent During 7″ on Chunklet Industries (a full length of that group should be expected drop soon) we already get to hear another group featuring Spray Paint vocalist and guitar player Cory Plump. As Rider/Horse he’s teaming up with a dude named Chris who has in some unspecified capacity worked with the likes of Les Savy Fav and Trans Am. Together they’re creating a sound that’s taking the more electrically driven vibe of the most recent Spray Paint releases into a dark and hazy, heavily industrial-leaning psychedelic nightmare kind of realm somewhat reminiscent of Exhaustion, Haunted Horses or Danyl Jesu, as well as the dub-infused soundscapes of Exek, with whom they also share that certain taste of Swell Maps.
Two years after their promising, though at times somewhat undercooked debut LP, we get to hear a way more consistent sophomore effort by this Auckland, New Zeeland trio. Their rather abstract yet always catchy compositions somewhere on the fringes of Post Punk and Noise Rock – plus a hint of Industrial – at several points remind me of Acts like Girls In Synthesis, Haunted Horses, Ice Balloons or Tunic – with a small dose of Lightning Bolt sprinkled in for good measure.
What we got here is twelve minutes worth of minimalistic, uncompromising DIY industrial noise/-punk shit by some duo from River Falls, Wisconsin. Being more of a clueless idiot tourist in this particular field, i’d describe this as what a fully electronic variant of Big Black might have sounded like. Or maybe draw parallels to the more recent but comparably minimalistic noise by Black Pus.
