by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Sad Cactus Records continues to bring the underground heat as only they can, hand-picking only the finest of DIY artistic punk. Their next release is an exceptionally great split between NYC’s Gorgeous and Hadley, MA’s EIEIEIO, the band comprised of Max Goldstein (Maxshh, Tundrastomper), Sara Kochanski (Wishbone Zoe) and Sam Brivic (Crimson Blue, Tundrastomper), due out this Friday July 16th. The record is quick and experimental, pushing their art punk, post-hardcore, and freaked out indie rock toward something truly unhinged.
It’s probably the most fully realized EIEIEIO has ever sounded, but it still jumps and skitters with the caustic energy they always show. While the band’s EPs are generally of the “sneeze-and-you’ll-miss-it” variety with songs that rarely eclipse the two minute mark, their contributions to the split feel complete in their brevity, accomplishing all they need to in their compacted runtime. “okokOK” is their single from the split, a song that finds Kochanski on lead vocals as the band rip like a tidal wave crashing into an avalanche. It’s combustible upon impact with transfixed vocals, jaw dropping rhythms, and bleeding skronk, all jammed into one and a half brilliantly chaotic minutes.
Gorgeous, who released their fantastic full length debut Egg back in the winter of 2019, return with two new discordant pop tunes, capturing the magic of their debut and expanding on it with a detached destructive side. The duo play to each other’s strengths, warping in and out of focus together on lead single “Raindrop” which knowingly stumbles around with collapsed time signatures and shape shifting rhythms. The whole song stream rolls forward, jittering between sludge and their own strange sort of twee melodic sensibility. It’s heavy but sweet, deranged but catchy, and it marks a great new offering from the the acerbic Gorgeous.