The Answer Is In The Beat

Bullshit Market/Dental Work: Straight Banana/Live At Midwest Harshfest 3 split tape (TRASHFUCK Records/Placenta Recordings, 2017)

December 31, 2017 at 4:23 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

On their side of this split cassette, Detroit power electronics trio Bullshit Market debut their free jazz direction (unless they’ve done something like this before and I haven’t heard/seen it, which is entirely likely). There’s still some bursts of electronic noise, including some harsh electronic feedback and a Speak-N-Spell or similar robot-voiced toy, but much of this consists of unhinged drumming, demented scat singing, and acoustic noisemaking. There’s also some spoken word material, such as the parental abuse-themed “Ow Dad That Hurts” and “Inequality”, a brief poem about white privilege. Quite different sounding than the group’s usual output, but still confrontational and boundlessly expressive. On the other side, Dental Work presents their performance at Midwest Harshfest 3, which I missed because I was in Chicago that weekend. Dental Work’s performances are always visual as well as audio experiences, involving costumes, destruction, absurdity, and unpredictability. The visual and situational elements of their performance are lost on this tape, but the crowd interaction is captured, and the audience members react viscerally to the waves of heavy feedback and oscillation, and whatever’s being smashed onstage. The performance ends with chopping and crashing, as well as screams and chants of “Tru! Tru! Tru!” from the audience. Tape available from Placenta Recordings’ Bandcamp.