skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Dirty Offerings
One band that certainly had their hands full this year was Kentucky/West Virginia's Social Junk. Now operating as the duo of Heather Young and Noah Anthony with occasional help from auxiliary member Rickman, the band mounted their first nationwide tour and released two full length CD-R's, two cassettes, a split cassette with Kraken Fury (aka Thaddeus of the Warmer Milks) and solo albums by all three members this year. While the band has never been afraid of using every tool available to them to make their eerie spook jams, they've occasionally been prone in the past to overlooking their own amazing songwriting and instrumental talents in the name of more, shall we say, 'fucked'. While they still clearly favor the toys and the noise, this year's two CD-R releases saw them hitting their stride and showcasing their talents like never before. Gone are the meandering blowouts of last year's Trailer Witch and the dry muck of 2005's Champs, replaced instead with meticulously planned and brilliantly orchestrated songs of melancholy and delirium. The first release to come tumbling from their fertile womb this year was the Offering CD-R on Baltimore label MT6. This one could haunt a child for years. Playing out like some sick desert nightmare the band pulls you in safely at first with soothing synth tones, and then segues into a westerny "on your way to the gallows" kinda groove driven by a simple ominous jangly guitar line. Things get much darker on the next two tracks, 'Stoner Car' and 'City's On Fire', two live favorites. 'Stoner Car' has an 
impossibly drilling looped guitar part and lots of chimes and horns, and it certainly does not produce fond thoughts of being high in an automobile. The prize on this one is 'City's on Fire'. Kicking off with unsettling manic laughter more drilled loop guitar and aggressive yet sparse percussion the song builds to a terrifying climax as Anthony menacingly taunts "your children are alone/your house is on fire/your city's on fire!". Meanwhile you presumably stand in pale faced shock while watching it burn to the ground. Truly an ugly song by anyone's standards. And you're far from off the hook. 'Mind' doesn't bother to clean up the mess left by 'City's on Fire', and instead wallows in upsetting noise and more hostile taunts from Anthony until it's abruptly interrupted by an unexpected emptiness carried along by haunting percussion. The whole thing builds back up getting even cruder than before, and kicks sand directly into your face with both feet. This song also appears in much less imposing form on a split cassette with Robedoor from this year's Deathbomb Arc tape club, although I've gotta say I much prefer the 'dirty' version. Next up is the song 'Wedlock' which demonstrates the band's softer side and highlights Heather Young's amazing voice. The song is nearly acapella with just a few quiet drones and whipping flares echoing in the background. It may be their only love song up to this point, I'm not sure, but as beautiful as it is, I could certainly go for many more. The album finishes up on another quiet note as simple rumbling guitar and echoing horns create a peaceful soundscape far from the bombast of 'City's on Fire' and 'Mind'. I think there is always something to be said for an album that you can create and maintain your own concept around independent of the artist's vision. The creepy crud that this record shores up in my mind scares the shit out of me, and that's part of why I love it so much. On to newer things: the band recently released the Dirty Cloud CD-R on American Grizzly. While it starts in a relatively similar fashion to Offering with that kinda dying in the desert vibe, it's clear early on that this record is not nearly as ugly as it's predecessor. For one Anthony's 
vocals are much calmer in general and often carry heavy effects processing, and Young's vocals are more prominently featured. Instead of building into massive wasteland proportions many of the songs, such as the nine-minute 'Bloodletting', cruise instead to a peaceful warm place, offering droning comfort instead of bone-shattering aggression. The album still has it's share of noisers of course, 'Lands or Sands' sounds like someone trying to yell at you from across the bridge in a panic inducing traffic jam and 'Ramblin' Pines' sounds like the support beams holding that bridge snapping as easily as a rubber band while Flying Saucer Attack plays, barely audible on your car stereo. But ultimately even the title track, which is the heaviest song on the record, leads somewhere more pleasant. Having seen the band a few times on their last tour i can attest that not all these songs come across quite as comforting in the live setting, but hearing them play the untitled last track on this album in LA last August made me view what this band was capable of in a whole new light. At that point I hadn't heard Dirty Cloud yet, but now that I have I'm more aware than ever of the huge talent and potential this band has to offer both within and outside of the greater 'noise pantheon' or whatever. And it seems I'm not alone in noticing either. Five years of hard work has finally paid off as the band is currently preparing their first LP for release on Deathbomb Arc and their first "real" CD to be released on Project Active Media. I'd like to make a toast to five more years.
impossibly drilling looped guitar part and lots of chimes and horns, and it certainly does not produce fond thoughts of being high in an automobile. The prize on this one is 'City's on Fire'. Kicking off with unsettling manic laughter more drilled loop guitar and aggressive yet sparse percussion the song builds to a terrifying climax as Anthony menacingly taunts "your children are alone/your house is on fire/your city's on fire!". Meanwhile you presumably stand in pale faced shock while watching it burn to the ground. Truly an ugly song by anyone's standards. And you're far from off the hook. 'Mind' doesn't bother to clean up the mess left by 'City's on Fire', and instead wallows in upsetting noise and more hostile taunts from Anthony until it's abruptly interrupted by an unexpected emptiness carried along by haunting percussion. The whole thing builds back up getting even cruder than before, and kicks sand directly into your face with both feet. This song also appears in much less imposing form on a split cassette with Robedoor from this year's Deathbomb Arc tape club, although I've gotta say I much prefer the 'dirty' version. Next up is the song 'Wedlock' which demonstrates the band's softer side and highlights Heather Young's amazing voice. The song is nearly acapella with just a few quiet drones and whipping flares echoing in the background. It may be their only love song up to this point, I'm not sure, but as beautiful as it is, I could certainly go for many more. The album finishes up on another quiet note as simple rumbling guitar and echoing horns create a peaceful soundscape far from the bombast of 'City's on Fire' and 'Mind'. I think there is always something to be said for an album that you can create and maintain your own concept around independent of the artist's vision. The creepy crud that this record shores up in my mind scares the shit out of me, and that's part of why I love it so much. On to newer things: the band recently released the Dirty Cloud CD-R on American Grizzly. While it starts in a relatively similar fashion to Offering with that kinda dying in the desert vibe, it's clear early on that this record is not nearly as ugly as it's predecessor. For one Anthony's 
vocals are much calmer in general and often carry heavy effects processing, and Young's vocals are more prominently featured. Instead of building into massive wasteland proportions many of the songs, such as the nine-minute 'Bloodletting', cruise instead to a peaceful warm place, offering droning comfort instead of bone-shattering aggression. The album still has it's share of noisers of course, 'Lands or Sands' sounds like someone trying to yell at you from across the bridge in a panic inducing traffic jam and 'Ramblin' Pines' sounds like the support beams holding that bridge snapping as easily as a rubber band while Flying Saucer Attack plays, barely audible on your car stereo. But ultimately even the title track, which is the heaviest song on the record, leads somewhere more pleasant. Having seen the band a few times on their last tour i can attest that not all these songs come across quite as comforting in the live setting, but hearing them play the untitled last track on this album in LA last August made me view what this band was capable of in a whole new light. At that point I hadn't heard Dirty Cloud yet, but now that I have I'm more aware than ever of the huge talent and potential this band has to offer both within and outside of the greater 'noise pantheon' or whatever. And it seems I'm not alone in noticing either. Five years of hard work has finally paid off as the band is currently preparing their first LP for release on Deathbomb Arc and their first "real" CD to be released on Project Active Media. I'd like to make a toast to five more years. 
No comments:
Post a Comment