by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
David Settle has been exploring the wide world of punk with each successive Big Heet release, each a significant departure from the last. The Philadelphia based musician (who also plays as Psychic Flowers and The Fragile) first caught our attention with Ex-Breathers, a brilliant post-hardcore band that was as heavy as it was intelligent. The first Big Heet album followed in a similar fashion, while the band’s second album, Hiss, leaned into blown out basement punk caterwauling. Set to release Playing The Bug on November 19th, the latest effort finds Settle joined by his former EXBX bandmate, Adam Berkowitz, on drums, and the pair have shifted Big Heet’s sound once again. Scaling back a degree of the aggression, this one is maybe a bit closer to the Sonic Youth catalog than anything In The Red Records, but it’s still full of intensity, textured distortion, and Settle’s knack for memorable songwriting.
“Octogenarians” is the album’s lead single, diving headfirst into a nicely detached groove, jerking in every direction with a dense rhythm. The song pushes and pulls with stops and starts, quickly establishing the sordid instrumental hook of the serrated guitars. Settle’s vocals, ever so slightly warped, pay tribute to those in their 80s, those whose memories have faded but not been forgotten. It’s a whiplash of a song, darting between attack and infectious head-nodding.