by Selina Yang (@y_aniles)
Drolomon is the debut EP from CS Cleaners, who concoct a hypnotic combination of classic punk, a la Black Flag, the art rock looseness of Tropical Fuck Storm, and the optimism of Sports Team. After their 2022 debut single “Income Pain,” a gritted teeth love letter to grimey hardcore, the group planted their feet in warehouse floors sticky with beer and sweat. The cast comprises of Adam Sierz and Ben Petrisor (guitar/vocals), along with Jacob Saxton (drums) and Sergio Falvo (bass/vocals).
Before CS Cleaners, the band members dabbled in ambient bedroom drone, sarcastic post-punk, and DIY garage rock. CS Cleaners moves from murky angst into a vibrant, bold EP that satirizes the nihilistic genre where “existential crises, anxiety, and corporate greed” are supposed to get you down. Drolomon embodies an intense physicality, where you can nearly hear shirts twisting, hair spinning, and sweaty shoulders flying. You’re itching to join in.
As the EP progresses, it tears at the seams. The most melodic of the EP, opening track “Wash Me,” teases an indie rock hook, using delirious falsetto yelps akin to Antics-era Vundabar. As Falvo’s bass charges up and down, and Saxton’s drumming bursts into cymbal crashes on the chorus, these two form a churning underbelly that allows Sierz and Petrisor’s smooth melody to surf above. “Donkey” has CS Cleaners calling “Bullshit!,” explosively ripping off bandages through their use of layering.
The devolution into absurdity, after the initial rigid structure, is enthralling. “Spit Sandwich” begins with an insidious drone that slows down time, before breaking into paranoid discordant punches glued together only by a hypnotic guitar backing. After being held hostage, blindfolded, and spun around, the disoriented listener finds themselves bombarded by “Drolomon”’s thrash breakdowns and chasmic grooves, as if in the eye of a circle pit.
By the time you reach the final track, “Extra Tender,” all sense of sense has sloughed off, revealing Drolomon’s shivering, manic core. The vocals collapse from roars of “first world war and I’m living it up!,” into cartoon villain cackles that revels in “fuckin’ shit up”. As the drums pound down, the guitars reverberate sharply as if the listener was, in fact, fresh flesh being tenderized. Every piece of grit becomes amplified. After scraping the listener raw, Drolomon ends not with pummeling bass, nor with brash barks. The last three seconds of “Extra Tender” trail off into a muffled exhale, an ambiguous chuckle or sob. CS Cleaners finds fun in feeling everything.