Big Black – Songs About Fucking














Big Black – Songs About Fucking – 4/5
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i5ywiyjymnk

I welcome you to enter the mind of an insane man as he takes you on a journey through his thoughts. For many reading this I expect noise rock to be something of a foreign genre. It was one that never really gained much of a following, and given how it revolves around ‘melodic’ noise - using the term melodic lightly – it’s not hard to see why. The genre would later to go on to influence industrial music, but this album, the brainchild of noise rock legend Steve Albini with his trusted companion ‘Roland’ (the name he gave his drum machine), presents us with a raw assault of various noises that what it lacks in pure aggression, compensates in its abrasive and destructive tone.

The structure of the tracks here are best described as punk, with a distortion so thick that it more often comes off as a white noise tone. Everything is done with an electronic tone, a robotic and mechanical emotion, quick addictive riffs coming in thick over a tinny drum beat, whilst the punk attitude is left to the vocals in order to pick up the pieces, from the deeper sarcastic and sinister tones to aggressive yelling he may not be the best vocalist, but he does a damn good job at exemplifying the punk spirit.

At the core of this bands sound lies a cynical quality, sarcastic jokes that, after their debut, many didn’t understand. He was labelled sexist, racist, and was asked by the recording company to tone down the themes in his songs. Judging by the title, I think he made it apparent precisely how much notice he took of their request. With tracks seemingly promoting self-loathing (‘Tiny, king of the Jews’), about being a general bastard (‘Bad Penny’), and possibly the strangest of them, about being the King of Cats (‘Kitty Empire’), once you get past the abrasive tone you realise the lyrics aren’t your standard affair. They are nothing if not unique.

In fact, the only drawback here is that simply some tracks feel sub-par by comparison to the best here, ‘ergot’ repeating itself too long, ‘kitty empire’ with too quiet vocals to really comprehend what’s being said, and so on. The best here could stand up as a pinnacle for what the genre has to offer, and its unfortunate they couldn’t all match up to this high standard.

Noise rock is one of those bizarre genres that never took off; it was not palatable to enough people that it ever got much publicity, especially in the more extreme forms. A well known artist for comparison could be considered the earlier works of ‘Sonic Youth.’ This makes them look normal. This takes it to a new level of insanity, loud, abrasive, where sonic youth used soft female vocals to give it all a twist, here you’re presented with a heavier distortion, a harder hitting sound bombarding you whilst you’re getting screamed at. This is loud, abrasive, aggressive, unusual, and completely addictive.

Highlights: Bad Penny, L Dopa, Columbian Necktie

Comments

Adam L. said…
Hmm. I will have to check this out.
Thanks :D