Special Interests
Spiraling EP
scum stats - i can’t find ‘em anywhere
Props to Swank for turning me on to this one and to Goner for having a table set up at the Nashville record show last week where I was able to buy this sucker.
It doesn’t get much better than the opening track “Young, Gifted, Black, In Leather” all attitude and energy and vivacious establishment of being.
Second track “Disco” is more of the same. Pugnacious vibes for days. I want to see this band live and I hope it scares me as much as I anticipate.
Produced by Quintron, straight from New Orleans, this hits on a lot of the points that I dig about Downtown Boys. “Spiraling” has bass tone for days…so round and fully-formed. Take note: this is a textbook example of how four strings should sound. It seems so “duh” obvious but folks get it wrong constantly.
“If you don’t want shit, then don’t start it” is the most quotable lyric I’ve heard in some time and I still can’t tell if the song it comes from, “Fluid (Bound 2)” is a Kanye West reference or not. Either way, I’m down.
Drum machine on “Art Walk”, Detroit techno style intro on “Disco II” and the synth driven force of “Nerve” are all harbingers of the breadth and range a group can cover while still being legitimately punk. Ain’t no rule book here.
The closer “The State, the Industry, the Community & Her Lover” is the perfect culmination of all the preceding tracks. It builds wildly before climaxing as the pissed off offspring of Sonic Youth’s “PCH.”
Every record collection would be better served with this disc in it. I promise.
(FYI, the front cover says Special Interests while everywhere else on the record it is Special Interest. I love it)
New cut looks slick, Ben
hard wild stuff! HWS Ben should put together a playlist comprised of all of the ROTW for the year. That would be an interesting eclectic mix of music.
“Produced by Quintron” is all I needed to know ❤️
Thunderclap Newman something in the air one of the artist at Blue Man Records needs to cop this now
That song you shared feels like high school to me. Thanks for introducing me to this record! I wanna strap on my steel-toes, dickies, and chains and take an elbow to the nose right now. Thanks to Swank, too!
ouin…
Reminds me of the many late weeknights I’d poke my head into the back room dance floor at the Reptile House (R.I.P.) in Grand Rapids. Lights rapid slicing the darkness, but not lingering enough to let you see the grime on the floor and walls. 2, 4, 6, sometimes 20 people twisting, jerking, spiraling. Extra mascara and the putrid allure of clove ciggies and Natty Lite. That industrial mood was never really my scene, but I was very happy it was going on. This is a more organic sounding, but the attitude and chords evoked that memory.
Not especially interests’ed.
nice, thanks