Bilge Rat's sound is a dark and winding blend of outsider indie rock with the twisted post-punk unpredictability of the New England scene we're so fond of here at Post-Trash. There's a great deal of dissonance, both in the music and their song-structures, as alternatively tuned guitars and interesting chord changes create the perfect texture for Michael Kusek's dejected but vibrant vocals.
The second song from the band's upcoming Kyle Gilbride (Swearin') produced, Of Wandering. A jangly blast of sardonic pop music about appealing to the masses, the song offers the age ol' chestnust, "you're not my market anyway". The duel vocals of Madeline Meyer and Dan Colanduno harmonize beautifully in the song's verses, sputtering wonderfully out of control during the hooks.
"Hội An," a grinding industrial influenced drone song that moves with monolithic intensity as Pantaleo is joined by Bueno's Mike DiBenedetto. Pantaleo's dense rhythm barrels forward with a sense of purpose over top DiBenedetto's ominous soundscapes, intensifying as the song unfolds and the rhythm expands from the locked in polyrhythmic trance.
From the beginning of opening track on DC 4-piece Big Hush’s new tape ‘Who’s Smoking Your Spirit?” it is evident that the band is possessed with a new frenetic energy and a harder, faster style, a major shift in tone from their past releases. Around a year ago in November 2014, they released Wholes, a tape that guitarist/vocalist Owen Wuerker refers to as having ‘mellow, pretty songs,’ and “Who’s Smoking Your Spirit?” is a departure almost entirely from the feelings Wholes creates.
Dream All Over, gives off a deep sense of place, but the place is rarely the same. Sometimes their songs exude a folksy pastoral vibe you'd expect of an Appalachian-based band, complete with twang and slide guitars. A well-placed sprinkling of twirling sitar riffs in "Matters of the Head" creates a decidedly Eastern vibe. "Worldly Way" spits out psychedelic dissonance reminiscent of New Yorker royalty the Velvet Underground in their trippiest, noisiest freak outs. In more ways than one, the entire album feels like a road trip.
Post-Trash.com is thrilled to present Post-Trash Vol. I, the first of in our expansive promotional compilation series. Highlighting the best of independent rock music, Post-Trash Vol. I pulls from a wide range of sounds and styles, presenting everything from lo-fi bedroom pop and anti-folk to blistering hardcore and experimental punk.
Dead Ass brings in a sonic blend of post-hardcore and indie-punk. Mark Fletcher, Max Kagan and J Boxer all share equal songwriting duties, trading off lead vocals in a style that takes a hint from the early days of the Beastie Boys. The 15-minute run time of Dead Ass is greatly used to exemplify the diverse range of songwriting influences that have inspired Stringer, with each track providing its own variant of modern punk rock
“Grave Digger” finds Ellis at a relaxed moment, hitting a point somewhere between Iji-esque yacht rock and Pavement-like expansion of ideas; the most remarkable moments are those when Ellis’ vocals come in, pushed high above the instrumentation, his clearly being the literal and figurative voice to focus on.
Buzzsaw guitars mingle with electronic and organic drum beats and heavy bass, all amidst a downpour of boy/girl harmonies that bring to mind a more ethereal version of Velocity Girl’s Sarah Shannon and Archie Moore. There’s a perfect marriage of punk grit with their pillowy sounds, and just when you think they’ve gone full Enya (really it’s more Lilys or Lush on mellow opener “Dream Again”), they reach back into the buzz-bin and pull out metallic riffage (heard on the Sabbathy-y second track “Heavy Metal Suicide”) or full-on guitar heroics (like on the swaying, Pumpkins-like “Guilt”).
Garge Munk isn’t the strongest introduction to Marge or Gunk’s work, but for what-appears-to-be just leftovers, it’s a testament to how good they really are. The songs complement each other and work really well as a single track. It’s an exciting statement of unity from two bands in Philadelphia’s scene of overflowing creativity.
It's a stomping album that sits at the three-way intersection of post-punk, hardcore punk, and math-rock. The metallic and riff-heavy elements of their 2012 LP Collision have been toned down in favor of a tighter noise-meets-hardcore dynamic. Past Tense documents a band that successfully evolved their sound without losing the aggression and dynamic songwriting that initially set them apart from more traditional hardcore artists.
False Punk’s latest release serves as a reliable partner in crime to any situation that involves raising hell, cracking beers and lurking about the city like a creep. Despite the sporadic nature of the EP as a whole, each mood appropriately transitions from song to song and allows for a natural flow of cheeky angst and abrasion to encompass its dark story.
Written and recorded in its entirety by Hartlett alone, Is Stupider possesses the same intangible ability to slowly creep into your being without your knowing and kind of just stay there. It’s the work of a songwriter whose trust in his aesthetic instincts and taste renders a product that will affect a receptive listener on a profound and anthem-like level.
