Low Fat Getting High - Vulture Shit at Party XPO 929 12-13-12

Just a quick note today about catching Low Fat Getting High at Party XPO last night and was completely blown away... their recent self released single didn't have any chance at capturing the level of sound they let loose opening for Vulture Shit. I have Unwound on my brain thanks in part to their live double album Live Leaves that I had on heavy rotation over the weekend, but I was completely reminded of my favorite band of all time watching this three piece. Especially the early stuff from A Single History that felt so loud there couldn't possibly be a discernable rhythm, other than Sara's drumming of course... (which Kaleen completely reminds me of, crazy power and complex timings that she can play forever), but the way these basslines and subtle shifts in distortion work feels like it's been missing this whole time. The track off their self released single is completely melodic and almost pop compared to the throbbing total power they played the rest of the set. I heard they used to just be a bass and drums line up, but I couldn't imagine this without that sweet high treble static from the jag section. Crazy plateau of energy that went on and on. So impressive, super nice guys and can't wait to hear more of this, they easily have a full length's worth of material and it would be a damn shame if this doesn't end up on vinyl.

Next up was Vulture Shit, who sent me their self released single a while back and catching these guys live completely changed the way I heard that thing. All the crazy electronic's on the record are actually Mike forcing his bass through some heavy ringtone computer glitch effects for that These Are Powers future punk sound. The other Mike on drums is pounding out ridiculous beats, a free form avant-rhythm style of constant hectic changes. All the tracks I barely recognized from the single are hardcore nightmare versions with Randy Vandal bringing this incredible performance side to the party. He's a natural maniac, running around the venue, getting into it with the ladies moshing in front, hopping stage monitors and grinning into the footlights. I talked with these guys outside right before their show and they were telling me about a cassette release homage to their favorite businesses in Brooklyn, a pizza place under the J,M,Z or an orthodontic office with an awesome name I can't remember now...and Mikey's Hookup. Hilarious ideas and this dystopian robot controlled future of infomercials and mousepad credit cards is truly a unique punk rock vision and they rock the insane sound to go with it. Their live show puts this record on a whole new level.



These guys are both getting back together to play Don Pedro's early in 2013, no details just yet...I think it's Saturday the 5th, but I'll post it in the concert calendar. Facebook invite info here.

Vulture Shit "I Love the Way He Touches His Computer" self released

Hopefully you get some sense of a band from their title or the packaging of a release, long before it ever hits the turntable. It can be deliberately mysterious, satanic, or just utterly hilarious and confusing. That's the case with this self released single from Vulture Shit. A mousepad is the perfect size to fit into a seven inch sleeve and these guys went as far as to have this worthless detritus manufactured (the fact there are still places making these is mind blowing) with an awesomely obscene collage of keyboards, cops and medical diagrams of private parts. Turns out it's actually useful for throwing on top of the scattered crappile on my desk and actually use that wireless mouse for once. It's like they were reading my mind. On the reverse of that elevator distress call iconography is a nightmare dot matriz printout that successfully shows you've setup your windows NT x86 HP laserjet printer, another sign of the apocalypse...and this title about touching computers?...in what I'm assuming is a sensual way. So I'm thinking there's enough anti-everything punk to this thing, but is it going to be gadget filled electronics? Like SIDS spazzy glitch punk? Well sort of.

A-Side's "Tube Tester" starts out with that tried and true feedback whine, count off to an off kilter superfuzz bass line and Mike(?) is delivering his vocal at breakneck speed matching this weird tempo snare hits. A brief stop and another count off. "Hey baby can I come inside?" gives entirely new meaning to the title. The track is jittery and almost a sort of caveman new wave sound. Bare bones, made entirely by keeping the weirdest rhythm machine steady and jamming as many vocals as humanly possible into that cramped space with a quivering manic style reminding me more and more of that Biafra mental breakdown feel. Utterly hilarious and impeccably crafted, appropriately dirty and you won't miss a word. "I Love the Way He Touches His Computer" comes in with those drum blips from an old casio, a high speed tom and an aside of "Power on" before the scuzz bass starts, seductive vocals feeling especially creepy...I feel dirty typing. Somehow managing to work this hyper riff into a melodic power chorus, it all happens so fast, punchy and rattling like a consumer culture obsessed Death from Above 1979. Increasingly manic, they hit on that primitive repeated crunch and pound it out. He's in the bushes, a demented technological peeping tom. "Every Table Needs a Knife" is an infomercial turned psycho-punk. A rapid fire talky delivery about deals and knives, you're going to want them, this is japanese steel! Lot's of chopping, tomatoes, onions, melons, then tension and boredom. A funk groove is going on off on it's own behind this ad man, as gross as it gets, the desperation and hardcore arrangement is frightening.
B-Side's "Whole Lotta Nothin'" really kicks out that heavy bass line groove, the drums are all speed again and that DFA sound is heavy here, the most melodic line, each note barely having time to ring out and dropping off the end of that fade, rapid fire returns between that deep low end and high bursts. The vocals are slightly more buried here in favor of this killer riff. Sadly I'm missing what I know are fantastic vocals as energetic as ever, but they've got this punk dance sound firmly in tow. "Area Dad's" say "go to the ice-cream truck and get me a choco-taco", and "go to your room! Get a job! Did you clean that fucking mess in the basement? Shave your face!" Sputtering out these mundane suburban verses in the vein of "I'm in jail dad!" between fuzz line bursts, and when dad really gets pissed, this thing takes off into into a solid volume groove. It's a scarily accurate piling on of complaints and at the end of this thing, when the track stops the tape is still rolling and he's spent. Put together with this nervous Devo style and hardcore energy, Vulture Shit is completely coming up with something truly particular that leave you wondering why that punk outrage at the real dumb bullshit ever went away. It isn't directly calling for any kind of revolutionary action but things are a mess and probably always will be, and Vulture Shit does't just have to sit back and take it.

Get this one direct from the band (possibly with a mousepad?) and a sheet of 1986 computer font lyrics, which is an entire sheet of letter size paper, single spaced. Black vinyl, handstamped center label of computer directory speak.