27 / BUG
split
12”, interstellar / noise
appeal
Two very
different sides to two very different bands on one beautiful platter. There
are those wild boys from the Austrian alpine regions and there is the finely
wraught group from somewhere USA. I’ll admit that 27 have gone b my radar
for most of the time, though I know that they released on some well-known
and semi-legendary US-american record labels. Bug are among my favorite noise-rockers and they
have released a bunch of great records around here, take a wild guess on
which labels.
How the two got
together back to back on a slab of coloured vinyl is beyond me, though.
Except for one wild burst of guitar noise at the end of “matera”, 27
stay poised in the calm and gentle area of music. From the piano and vocals
solo of “half life (half)” that starts their side to the synthie-loaded
remix of “every way” that ends their side of this split-album, the
atmosphere is one of softness and tranquility yet filled with elusive
sounds, harmonies and emotionality. Bug rip out crazy guitar riffs from the
beginning, pounding through their side of the record with energy, weirdness
and a punk-overdrive that I hadn’t as of yet seen so much of in their
music. I had them pegged as a band using technique and structure to bang
home their noise rock, but this kind of looseness is really good to them.
Their first track is called “grubenhund”, which of course sparks several
kinds of memories with me, but let’s not get into that. I’ll suffice it
to say that back then I would have greatly enjoyed their wild kind of basic
noise rock, and I am happy to realize I still do. Maybe it is true, that you
are as old as you feel – then I’d have lost some pounds as well as some
duties as long as this side of the record is playing.
The only thing
keeping the two sides of this record together is – except for the physical
reality of being on the same slab of plastic and being released by the same
two labels - mainly the things that are different. Beautiful female vocals
singing in harmonious melodies here and gutbusting screaming over there.
Dilligently set arrangements accompanied by keyboards to softly set a
scenery for the song to unfold here and heavy pounding noise from drums,
bass and guitar to hammer home the song over there. Peace and gentleness
over here and raw, unadulterated straightforwardness and aggression over
there. These opposites do not form any kind of contradiction, opponents or
even synthesis – it seems as if they appear on their side of the yard
without interfering too much with the other one. So, no apparent inherent
meaning from putting these two bands back to back, at least not so far as I
can see and within any kind of reason. These could have been on two separate
EPs, preferrably 10”es, because I like those mid-sized pieces, without a
lot of ado.
Of course, I
could be constructing such an argumentation right here, having actually
already built the fundament for it, but what for exactly? To prove how
clever I am? I am trying to get over that. Moreover, I am sick and tired of
all that sustainable, esoteric, way of nature yin-yang-shit. Don’t get me
wrong. Sustainability is a good idea and an important trend as is trying to
live the way nature gives it to us or shows us to. But we are still talking
rockmusic here – it don’t matter if it is the gentle or the coarse
variety – as well as we are talking about the release of a record and
there is nothing sustainable nor natural about both things.
Anyway, and to
sum this review up, this split album is a fine release with great music on
it. A lot of people, who’ll deeply dig into one side, probably won’t
like the other side, but that’s because, as a friend of mine said last
week, “people are complete shitheads”. I couldn’t have said it better.
