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Meat Wave - Brother EP

"Brother EP"

Release date: 26 January 2015
8/10
Meat Wave Brother
26 January 2015, 09:30 Written by Dannii Leivers
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Two years ago, nastily-named punks Meat Wave released a blistering self-titled album, recorded in bassist Joe Gac’s garage, which landed them somewhere in between the jagged angles of Fugazi and the Steve Albini-inspired snarls of Cloud Nothings’ Attack on Memory. It melded often discordant and brash guitars with instantly memorable melodies. Clocking in at under 23 minutes, the Chicago threesome; Gac, vocalist and guitarist Chris Sutter and drummer Ryan Wizniak, didn’t give themselves much time to get under your skin, but it turns out they really didn’t need all that long.

Their Brother EP is a long overdue mixtape of something old, something new and something borrowed. Two ‘old’ tracks, the sloppy racket of “Brother” and “It’s Not Alright” which takes its cues from the chunky grunge on Foo Fighters’ debut, are both taken from Meat Wave’s Self-Titled. That album’s best tracks, they’re the perfect bridge between past and present. “Brother” is a minute-and-a-half of balls, guts and fury which appeared third on the debut’s tracklisting but that works much better as a slap-in-the-face opening number. “You’re not my brother. You’re just some other, motherfucker’s brother,” sneers Sutter, the only lyrics that can be decrypted from amid the din. Similarly, the “This Is A Call”-esque “It’s Not Alright” takes off at urgent pace, splattering the walls with desperation and spit.

However, for all Meat Wave’s lo-fi aesthetics - tinny cymbal crashes, bleeding guitars and undecipherable, shouted lyrics buried beneath fuzz - there’s the scrappiest of pop sensibilities that runs through all their recordings. Take “Sham King”, the first of the ‘new’ offerings. Cheeky and hooky whilst equally taunting and bloodthirsty, Sutter’s vocals are a high pitched squall amongst driving riffs. ‘The Truth’s melody is equally as hummable while “Ants” opens with bouncy, confident guitars.

Of course a cover of Wipers' “Mystery” (which runs pretty akin to the original) and the Shellac-like “Sunlight” says much more about where Meat Wave place themselves sonically. Whereas other tracks bludgeon with blunted edges, here, wiry and tense guitar stabs don’t so much build as provide a pulsing current, jarring and trembling before fading away. It leaves you wanting more as does the EP as a whole – done and dusted in quarter of an hour. With Brother, Meat Wave have re-piqued interests once again. Let’s hope they don’t keep us waiting so long for what comes next.

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