Arkansas

Arkansas:

Brut Choir

CITY: Little Rock
SONG TO DOWNLOAD: "Barest Bones"
WEBSITE: brutchoir.bandcamp.com

WHY THEM: Much like New York City's CREEP and oOoOO in the Bay Area, Little Rock's Brut Choir are picking up the pieces of witch house, drag, and other various "-gazes" from the past year or so, reshaping a skeletal electronic sound into more than a fad. The brainchild of Everett Hagen and Jimmy Spice, Brut Choir's dark, cold-wave electronics are eerily sparse, but a drum-machine beat and menacing, theatrical dronage are often enough to carry the moody atmospherics. Originally recorded by the two friends separately and passed back and forth via e-mail a few years ago, Brut Choir's Barest Bones EP finally hit Bandcamp back in March (it's now available for free download), and rough mixes of two new tracks, "Orion" and "Tesla," are making the rounds on the Interwebs. Like those first two Suicide records from more than three decades ago, these Brut Choir's material is a difficult listen that ultimately become rewarding for the dedicated.

ALSO CONSIDERED: The Pink Drapes — Also from Little Rock, the distorted post-punk bounce of the Pink Drapes might have us eventually rethinking our Brut Choir endorsement. Maybe.

California

Arizona