Cassette Review // Body Shame "The Solitary Vice" (Bento Records)

$6 //
Edition of 50 //
https://bodyshame.bandcamp.com/album/the-solitary-vice //

Sometimes music just gels with me.   The best way to think of these songs by Body Shame is to imagine some sort of hardcore/punk/indie rock band (which, yes, could go anywhere from Refused to Foo Fighters) and then take that sound, chop it up in a blender and spit it back out in a sea of distorted noise.   That's kind of how "The Solitary Vice" sounds, but it's just so much an evolution of what we consider to be rock music.

Back in the early '00's I was really into hardcore and was presented with an album by a band called Sex Positions and I felt like it had a similar way of taking an existing sound, putting a twist on it and sending us into the future full throttle.   Trippy space punk is a way to describe this but it can also be scary at times.   There is this great flurry of drums that go into a winding drone and I think it's important to remember that even with screams sometimes, there is still a rhythm to this static noise.

The flip side kicks off with this distorted laughing.  It feels more instrumental here, just that true descent into madness.   I might also feel like it is without as many vocals because you can pick out lines on the first side but here within the second it feels as if the words are often times being played backwards and as such they don't really seem to make as much sense (but add to the overall appeal of the cassette for sure)

This is not my first time hearing Body Shame (because I like that name) and I'm hoping it won't be my last.   These songs are always so energetic even if they kind of drift off at points where you can just feel your buzz floating before getting picked back up and taken for another ride.    It's not mayhem on a trip I believe everyone should want to take.