Cassette Review // Blotchouts "Leonora Guards the Egg" (Pecan Crazy Records)

$6 //
https://pecancrazy.bandcamp.com/album/blotchouts-leonora-guards-the-egg //

When these deep bass beats start to twist and turn, I feel like what impresses me the most with the first song on "Leonora Guards the Egg" is not just that you can hear the title of "Ow Ow" but the many different ways in which you can hear it.   This takes us into a wild song called "Cockroach Milk" which is some combination of Primus, aliens and that weirdo rock I can never quite compare with anyone else (but I often think of that band Vagina Missile Crisis still)  The title also makes me think of that Simpsons episode where they milk the rats.

"Mommy I Don't Wanna" has this mad carousel ride way about it and there aren't really lyrics to the song as much as there is singing.   In some ways, fitting with the title, it does just feel like a tantrum.   This takes us into a song which has a video game vibe to it with spoken lyrics.  There is also a strong punk quality to this, like if Fred Schneider was fronting Devo.   Guitar notes come through a bit like skramz but then it really picks up in a way where it feels like everyone is singing.   For reasons which may or may not be related, this song ("Enema") makes me wonder whatever happened to Atom and His Package.

Big drum machine beats begin the flip side and we are into these distorted sounds which also bring out some screeching with the vocals.   It's loud like a car crash.  Sometimes, it can sound like Gir.  It feels like an electronic march into wartime now.   The vocals come through like a robot.  As "I'm A Baby" bounces on through it does sound like some kind of baby toy is being squeaked.    This also takes on that pattern of a song like "Boris The Spider", which is a comparison I've made before.

As the notes build now I can feel like we're driving into the matrix and all of these sounds and colors are just surrounding me.   I hear horns and the beat is just so steady.  Words come in now and I'm pretty sure everyone else can hear them as well.   The singing can be so hypnotic and at times you just get lost in it, certain that you've heard it before, but I feel like it's just because I've listened to Blotchouts so much.   This cassette just seems to effortlessly push the boundaries of what is considered to be contemporary music- taking the general ideas of sound and forming them as seen fit by the artist- and I think in years down the road we're going to look back at this cassette as being such a pivotal point in when that shift took place.