Appleseeds / Strange Matter split on Dirty Hippy Barn Records

Back to the underground with a Tim Triplett band, Strange Matter who says:

We put this out independently. The Dirty Hippy Barn is where we live.

That's all you need. This one is a split with fellow Milwaukee residents, Appleseeds and it's a pretty solid bet it's going to be one hell of a ride of hardcore punk speed and Beefheart chaos from both sides.

The Appleseeds side opens with "Wasted Time" that blows up with the kind of insane energy that Jay Reatard had across all of Blood Visions, I know that's a ridiculous comparison the first track in but Fly Steffens on vocals is the reason. She's doubling them up or maybe it's just her register combined with a manic pushed-too-far quiver that's what's hitting the same snarl. Could be this guitar style too like it's been punched in and layered over a million times then gated into some weird distortion stranglehold while the drums are buried and live sounding. "I Do" is a fantastic track about relationships and their fast as hell, punk pop sound is perfect and Fly's vocal is serious. She can really deliver a tight, controlled sound while the rest of the band is rehearsal room sounding in a great way. It's big but just because they managed to get all the mics lined up together after the fact. "Sour grapes" then goes into a more noise feel but backs around on itself with a darker punk sound, the guitars have more crunch and Fly harmonizes with herself while yelling - just when you thought this was all middle finger power pop they just got hardcore. This one deliberately falls apart for nearly a minute, almost the length of the song with delays, cymbal rides and loops that fade off into the distance. I think you can hear another band playing down the hall?

Strange Matter's side starts with "Long Walk" a thin sounding ripper with Tony on bass / vocals who's a real serious presence on this one. He's leading this chopped up chaos with his lyric built on nothing but thick, massive northwestern distortion sounds. It's the sound of completely giving up, breaking instruments while playing them, ignoring just about everything. Lots of tempo changes, from blast to sludge and Tony leads this right off the cliff. "Get Happy" can't be Tony anymore, unless they caught him on the upswing. "Think about the things that make you happy / I shit my pants once at an ATM" is my favorite lyric. A slower groove metal lounge and I think he says "I love Spoon?!" Then he slips up about his sexual preference and they have to spend the rest of this speed thrash trying to explain, really, really fast. "Party Animals" opens on warped cassette recording of a couple of parties cobbled together and a power chord instrumental intro that drops into heavy grind chords and frantic drum fills strung together. This is just the intro to their speed core free jazz sound. They launch into the only groove at the end of this that, of course, lasts no more than 15 seconds and we're back into this crazy party. GARY'S HERE! YEA!!!!

If you like the reverse cover of this single pictured above you should see the other side. Get it from visiting the Dirty Hippy Barn facebook (that's what I call facebook anyway) and asking or Appleseeds bandcamp.

Here's the appleseeds side - you have to tell Strange Matter to get their act together and post their side on bandcamp. Too much hippy in the dirty barn?

Strange Matter - The Ennui Actuation Dissolver EP on Dirty Hippy Barn Records

About five years ago now Tim Triplett sent me a bunch of his releases from his own Trigger on the Dutendoo Records. Tim has been involved in a huge number of projects over the years in Milwaukee and single handedly pressed a shitton of vinyl with members of Pink Reason (Hell on Earth) or a blast punk metal project Prunalogsusan. Never one to tease out extended jam tracks with meandering solo's or leaving an inch of room to breathe, this latest project with Anthony Dean and Brian on drums is called Strange Matter. Originally recorded in 2011 with out of tune guitar tracks they rerecorded and pressed this one up recently to finally finish the chapter on this seven song EP.

Tim isn't kidding when he mentions his short attention span and there isn't a song break on the A-Side whatsoever. the title track "Ennui Actuation Dissolver" has a thin, tiny, sweaty room guitar sound that's all metallic and Tim's vocal is somewhere between growly and screamy breaking down yelling. Brian's frantic thousand mile an hour drums are a free jazz nightmare pounding platform for the pair of devolving guitars to latch onto some kind of rhythm but then just crank out feedback. Brian's out there in his own personal time signatures, but when everything is flying along at this kind of speed it doesn't even have to traditionally 'come together' it just works on sheer interia. "Strawberry Oatmeal" has the toughest chorus thud and vocal 'CHOP THE BERRIES / THROW THEM IN THE MIX' on the record. It's a perfect example of something that could be pulled out but I respect that Strange Matter respects your time. Here's the song, you can figure out the rest. "Strange Matter" squeezes out thick beefy chord changes over manic, spazzy drums, Tim gets talky for a second before turning demonic. There's no bass I just figured out (give me a break it's only been a minute tops) just two guitars split across the channels. It's a real catharsis shit show that happens when you get three dudes together with some guitars and beer and this tight rage comes out. No lyric sheet to further confuse things, keep this mysterious and metal.
"Erase Me for Real Dudes" has mental patient whisper vocals and a bassline (?), huge riffs, and these things are really flying, there's no sort of speed limit observed here. Serious dedicated fingerwork, the kind of stuff Mikey from American Movie does blindfolded. An experimental metal ending, just wish there was a lot more lower end cut into this pressing. They would benefit from those rumbling lows when this slows down and starts to really punish your ears...so maybe their doing me a favor? Slow down isn't in their vocabulary anyway and this EP basically functions as an LP shrunk down in their demented mind. Like the opposite of The Fucking Champs who get intellectual about their chords and mathy changes, these guys seem to be working straight from the gut.

B-Side opens with "WWYD" (what would you do? - ed) that jumps right into more of that cinder block and mattresses sounding rehearsal space with slower high pitch grumbling. The guitars are at the other end at the top of the neck screeching and trying to put together some kind of rhythm but there's nothing here that you'd be able to bottle and sell. "Lollypopped" Drum fills and smoking finger changes work right into a slower metal. Are they even repeating anything I have to ask myself sometimes? Total screaming "Piled High" sounds pop with Tim on vocals groaning and getting to the talky chorus about how much he hates it being piled high like a complete maniac. Railing about the bullshit piling up everyday. The advertising. Fuck the government.

get this from the band direct at their bandcmp page.