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There are countless bands that have worshiped noise-not-music in the tradition exemplified by some weirdos from Stockholm, Osaka, Milan, Sao Paolo, and Portland City. And yet today, decades into distortion 'til deafness, far too many of these bands have the clothes and the pedals but not the power. In recent years, the best band in a sea of hapless pretenders has been the Bay Area's PIG DNA, who appeared on the scene smoking weed and understanding discharge, and then disappeared all too soon. This is their final recorded work, two "songs" of the nonsense noize that we love, a perfect encapsulation of their raw sound and fury. Limited to a pressing of 212, this two-sider is the perfect chaos non-musica against our trash society, buy it or be square.
Our take: Final recordings from this Bay Area noise-punk band. We’ve followed them closely here at Sorry State, and I still think their Mob Shity 12” is one of the most underrated releases on the La Vida Es Un Mus label. This limited (200 copies!) final 7” finds the band going out on a high note, pushing their sound to its outer limits. The a-side track is a wash of bashing hi-hats, reverbed-to-hell vocals, and other, feedback-drenched noises I assume are coming from a guitar, but I can’t be sure. Like the best bands in this style, Pig DNA have a noise artist’s ear for dynamics, and what makes the song come alive is how instruments careen off and past one another, the different noise textures bouncing around like popcorn kernels dropped into hot oil. The b-side, though, is where things get really exciting. Structurally, it’s your typical noise punk song with a bass that carries the melody, squealing guitars that remind me of Confuse’s Indignation tape, and Disorder-type caustic vocals. The catch is there’s no drum track. Your ear keeps waiting for the drums to kick in, but they never do. It’s a simple move, but it gives the song a different character, making space for different noise frequencies and textures to take center stage. While the facts that the record is so short, more expensive than your typical 7”, and more progressive / avant garde than average will mean it’ll have a limited audience, that just makes it more enticing for those of you who love exploring the outer reaches of noise punk.