MONDAY JUL 31, 2017
Fuiste
Out of Atlanta comes the relatively new formed math-rock band, Fuiste. The group has been around since the end of 2014, but it wasn’t until recently that they took their music journey head-on. The group consists of Jonny Bakos on bass, Sam Wilson on guitar, and Skylar Brilliante on drums. All three went to the same high school, and Sam and Skylar attended the same Spanish class. This is where the name “fuiste” – a Spanish word which, depending on context, means ‘you went’ or ‘you were’ — originated. Their teacher used the term one day, and it stuck from that point forward.
The trio recently released their debut EP, the three-song Slow Burner. It’s a schizophrenic affair, full of complex rhythm changes and wiry guitar riffs that fly out of your speakers like so many strands from a spider web. There are traces of jazz, hardcore, and psych rock, all connected and then torn asunder by noisy interludes that seem to appear out of nowhere. What little vocals there are appear almost inconsequentially without much melody to steer them. It’s a relentlessly restless record and yet, despite its messiness, it all comes together in a manner that is exciting and constantly surprising.
Slow Burner is available for streaming or as a name your price download via Bandcamp.
- Bryce Center / Immersive Atlanta
Out of Atlanta comes the relatively new formed math-rock band, Fuiste. The group has been around since the end of 2014, but it wasn’t until recently that they took their music journey head-on. The group consists of Jonny Bakos on bass, Sam Wilson on guitar, and Skylar Brilliante on drums. All three went to the same high school, and Sam and Skylar attended the same Spanish class. This is where the name “fuiste” – a Spanish word which, depending on context, means ‘you went’ or ‘you were’ — originated. Their teacher used the term one day, and it stuck from that point forward.
The trio recently released their debut EP, the three-song Slow Burner. It’s a schizophrenic affair, full of complex rhythm changes and wiry guitar riffs that fly out of your speakers like so many strands from a spider web. There are traces of jazz, hardcore, and psych rock, all connected and then torn asunder by noisy interludes that seem to appear out of nowhere. What little vocals there are appear almost inconsequentially without much melody to steer them. It’s a relentlessly restless record and yet, despite its messiness, it all comes together in a manner that is exciting and constantly surprising.
Slow Burner is available for streaming or as a name your price download via Bandcamp.
- Bryce Center / Immersive Atlanta
Moloq
Post Hunk
What does it mean to be a post hunk? Is that just a clever phrase for a dad bod? Maybe. Or, if we’re referring to the post in a record collector’s sense, then perhaps John Pierce and Alex Teich want to step beyond not just the physical aspects of the stud, but the entire “look-good-to-get-ahead” mentality. Look around in any given dive bar, and you’ll see that the further underground you go, the more rigidly suave the uniform gets; they hang in the same circles, they hold the same casually cool facade, they nod their heads in the same statuesque stance. As a regular partner to man-about-town Yancey Ballard, Pierce has no doubt seen all these patterns on the wall; so while their current outfit Shouldies sidesteps simple punk trappings completely, Post Hunk attacks the norm from the inside. This carnival-crazy debut Celebrity Pets isn’t so much a game-changer, though, as a game in and of itself. With cheeky synths, fuming punk vocals, and perky two-minute tunes, Pierce invokes the wackier new wave hijinks of XTC and Split Enz; even the solemn ballad that opens the album “Late part1” thrusts you at once into the absurd: “I was born two hours ago / am I late?” Granted, that question also launches us straight into the perpetually incoming traffic of the social media era, another toy in Post Hunk’s playpen. “Two steps from irrelevance / life is right on time,” Pierce shouts on “Big Al on Campus,” with enough nonchalance to imply that he’s both in on and outside of the ongoing popularity contest. Why even bother, after all, when—as the title track suggests—a famous stranger’s adorable dog could attract more love and fans than the average human Watching Post Hunk cavort around the crux of our times is fun, sure. But a whole album of such antics would barely stand in an era where bands are now clamoring to tap their finger on the modern malaise. Fortunately, Celebrity Pets balances the duo’s manic satire with some equally strong pop tunes, like the Costello-esque lead single “Sleep.” Of course, even in these relatively calmer moments, Pierce’s keen eye on the crowd doesn’t falter; when he twists an old nursery rhyme into “first comes love, and now the hesitation,” I at least can immediately recall a thousand times that I almost reached out to someone and couldn’t, even before Facebook or Twitter. Could our carefully segmented social spheres hold us back from the marriage and the baby carriage? Or were some of us just stuck in a rut to begin with? All this and more adds up to a solid first outing, albeit one cut criminally short. Celebrity Petsalso doesn’t quite convey the quaint country side to Post Hunk’s exuberant live shows, where Pierce and Teich remind you that they’re really just sweet Southern boys at heart with ears for a good yarn. Granted, that may just mean that the zany duo’s infiltration of the status quo works best in the dives where those calcified cool circles actually congregate. But until that chance comes back around, Celebrity Pets nevertheless answers the basic question that comes with the name Post Hunk—so what does that mean?—with enough verve to convince you that they are, in fact, way better than hunks. Or dad bods, for that matter.
What does it mean to be a post hunk? Is that just a clever phrase for a dad bod? Maybe. Or, if we’re referring to the post in a record collector’s sense, then perhaps John Pierce and Alex Teich want to step beyond not just the physical aspects of the stud, but the entire “look-good-to-get-ahead” mentality. Look around in any given dive bar, and you’ll see that the further underground you go, the more rigidly suave the uniform gets; they hang in the same circles, they hold the same casually cool facade, they nod their heads in the same statuesque stance. As a regular partner to man-about-town Yancey Ballard, Pierce has no doubt seen all these patterns on the wall; so while their current outfit Shouldies sidesteps simple punk trappings completely, Post Hunk attacks the norm from the inside. This carnival-crazy debut Celebrity Pets isn’t so much a game-changer, though, as a game in and of itself. With cheeky synths, fuming punk vocals, and perky two-minute tunes, Pierce invokes the wackier new wave hijinks of XTC and Split Enz; even the solemn ballad that opens the album “Late part1” thrusts you at once into the absurd: “I was born two hours ago / am I late?” Granted, that question also launches us straight into the perpetually incoming traffic of the social media era, another toy in Post Hunk’s playpen. “Two steps from irrelevance / life is right on time,” Pierce shouts on “Big Al on Campus,” with enough nonchalance to imply that he’s both in on and outside of the ongoing popularity contest. Why even bother, after all, when—as the title track suggests—a famous stranger’s adorable dog could attract more love and fans than the average human Watching Post Hunk cavort around the crux of our times is fun, sure. But a whole album of such antics would barely stand in an era where bands are now clamoring to tap their finger on the modern malaise. Fortunately, Celebrity Pets balances the duo’s manic satire with some equally strong pop tunes, like the Costello-esque lead single “Sleep.” Of course, even in these relatively calmer moments, Pierce’s keen eye on the crowd doesn’t falter; when he twists an old nursery rhyme into “first comes love, and now the hesitation,” I at least can immediately recall a thousand times that I almost reached out to someone and couldn’t, even before Facebook or Twitter. Could our carefully segmented social spheres hold us back from the marriage and the baby carriage? Or were some of us just stuck in a rut to begin with? All this and more adds up to a solid first outing, albeit one cut criminally short. Celebrity Petsalso doesn’t quite convey the quaint country side to Post Hunk’s exuberant live shows, where Pierce and Teich remind you that they’re really just sweet Southern boys at heart with ears for a good yarn. Granted, that may just mean that the zany duo’s infiltration of the status quo works best in the dives where those calcified cool circles actually congregate. But until that chance comes back around, Celebrity Pets nevertheless answers the basic question that comes with the name Post Hunk—so what does that mean?—with enough verve to convince you that they are, in fact, way better than hunks. Or dad bods, for that matter.