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Anyone paying attention can see that Cincinnati, OH is a very real hotbed of musical creativity at the moment, and the three members of The Serfs - Dylan McCartney (vocals, percussion, guitar, bass, electronics), Dakota Carlyle (Electronics, bass, guitar, vocals) & Andie Luman (vocals, synths) - and their respective side projects (The Drin, Crime of Passing, Motorbike) are undeniably near the center of Cincinnati's neu-underground scene. After releasing albums on Berlin minimal-synth label Detriti & Seattle-based DREAM Records in 2018 & 2022 respectively, the band makes the move to Trouble In Mind for their third and best album yet. "Half Eaten By Dogs" puts a decidedly Midwestern spin on the modernist twitch of future-forward bands like Total Control or Cold Beat as well as the post-industrialist dance floor grime of Skinny Puppy, Dark Day, This Heat or Factrix.
Our take: Half Eaten by Dogs is the third full-length from this Cincinnati, Ohio group, and their first for the indie label Trouble In Mind Records. Cincinnati seems like a hotbed of creativity at the moment, with the Drin, Corker, Crime of Passing, and the Serfs all making music that draws on post-punk and DIY traditions, but with an eye toward creating something new and contemporary rather than rehashing the past. The way the Serfs use noisy, minimalistic electronics brings to mind early Caberet Voltaire (particularly their Rough Trade singles), but I also hear the steady rhythms of dance music, the clatter of industrial, and the challenging textures of noise music feeding into their sound. And while there’s always a lot going on sonically, Half Eaten by Dogs also sounds wide open, invoking the big vistas of dub and ambient too. I feel like I’m reaching all over the place for references, but that’s not because the Serfs sound like an incoherent mish-mash; rather, it’s because they sound so original, weaving these references into a sound all their own. And while it’s distinctive, it’s also eclectic. Each of Half Eaten by Dogs’ ten tracks sounds different from the rest, and when you listen to it in full there’s a sense of development, rather than simply iterations of the same core idea. To put it succinctly, Half Eaten by Dogs is an excellent album from an excellent band from an exciting, noteworthy scene.
Our take: Half Eaten by Dogs is the third full-length from this Cincinnati, Ohio group, and their first for the indie label Trouble In Mind Records. Cincinnati seems like a hotbed of creativity at the moment, with the Drin, Corker, Crime of Passing, and the Serfs all making music that draws on post-punk and DIY traditions, but with an eye toward creating something new and contemporary rather than rehashing the past. The way the Serfs use noisy, minimalistic electronics brings to mind early Caberet Voltaire (particularly their Rough Trade singles), but I also hear the steady rhythms of dance music, the clatter of industrial, and the challenging textures of noise music feeding into their sound. And while there’s always a lot going on sonically, Half Eaten by Dogs also sounds wide open, invoking the big vistas of dub and ambient too. I feel like I’m reaching all over the place for references, but that’s not because the Serfs sound like an incoherent mish-mash; rather, it’s because they sound so original, weaving these references into a sound all their own. And while it’s distinctive, it’s also eclectic. Each of Half Eaten by Dogs’ ten tracks sounds different from the rest, and when you listen to it in full there’s a sense of development, rather than simply iterations of the same core idea. To put it succinctly, Half Eaten by Dogs is an excellent album from an excellent band from an exciting, noteworthy scene.