EVIDENCE GWP's new EP cover. |
No, Great Western Plain did not break up! We confess we were leaning toward that conclusion, as all three members have seemed a lot more intent on playing with the skuzzy garage-rock band Leaves Leaves all year than kick up the stinker’s racket they did on last summer’s Don’t Cook Off the Alcohol (only a 13-minute racket). Yet lo, the new six-song EP (Lure and Kitsch/Flutter and Slack) has proven otherwise, a way satisfying din of noisy, melodic, and driving rock squall. Sounds like a greased-up take on ’80s indie-punk groups like Moss Icon and Squirrel Bait, maybe even a little Hüsker Dü. Quietly one of the better punk bands around, we hope this means they play out a bit more. Visit greatwesternplain.bandcamp.com.
Man, can you imagine what it’s like playing in a band like Antiseptic? Fifteen years commitment to a rock group few have heard, and no one knows exactly how to describe, a/k/a true love. Over the long run, Antiseptic had plenty of time to dabble — in proggy space rock, doom folk, grungy Americana, churlish math-core, etc., etc. — but they’ve been consistent in their refusal to be corralled by any one. It’s a characteristic gesture of noncompliance that they released a four-volume, 59-track collection this winter containing basically everything they’ve ever done. It’s titled Recordings 1998-2011, and just as you’d imagine, there are some fine moments and some terrible ones. (The music the rest of us made in 1998 was equally terrible.) There is much, much variation to the formula, but at their best Antiseptic fit between the tense, moody post-rock of June of ’44 and In Utero-era Nirvana, all sharpened with a dark, sardonic wit. With the anthology now behind them, the trio are recording a new studio album this summer, the first since 2002’s The Devil is All Around. Visit antiseptic.bandcamp.com.
Are Gimme Goldar our city’s most unlistenable band? It’s a pretty lofty banner to hang over the mantle, but they’ve probably earned it already. The two debut EPs of free-thrash-noise-garble the four gents of Goldar made this spring are terrific statements of well-crafted chaos, as destructive as they are pleasurable to reckon with. Dizzep is an onslaught of speedy punk blasts, sax wails, and sludgy, industrial metal, most of it shellacked with layers of unconscionable feedback. Vocals occur, offering no relief. A second EP, titled GOLDAR AT GOLDAR DOT GOLDAR, is even less grounded in reality, bolstering the noise with droning psych experiments like “Knife Point” and “Seagull Fight.” A baseless concoction of sounds reminiscent of White Mice, Albert Ayler, and the Locust. Disgusting, yet any chance at human survival requires music like this. Recommended. Shoppers at this year’s Picnic (Aug 24 in Lincoln Park) are in for a serious treat. gimmegoldar.bandcamp.com.
Farewell to the last original ’CYY freak, as DJ Robin Ivy heads for love in points south. Her Zodiac Zone forecast segments will continue, though.
