Release of the Day: Unmanned Ship - "Crystal Pepsi" b/w "Pad Thai Fighter"

The 33rpm 7" format is perfect for a band like Unmanned Ship. You get two wandering jams (about ten minutes of tunery) without getting the feeling that the band had to clip its songs. Unmanned Ship in a live setting is intense and loud with all the trappings of a heavy psych band. Comparatively, this 7" has a lithe feel: for instance, "Crystal Pepsi" has this recurring lucid, pop-like chorus. The guitar and bass swell and the pitch elevates briefly before returning to its motorik foundation. It's a beautiful cluster of moments, one that makes Unmanned Ship stand out from its peers.

"Pad Thai Fighter" begins, fittingly, with a storm before taking on a somnambulant feel, occasionally broken up by torrential passages that would be as at home on a Godspeed! You Black Emperor record as they are on this record. The song eventually collapses in feedback and looping, gyroscopic whirls. And goddamn, you've gotta hear it again.

I interviewed Unmanned Ship about a year ago too. Great band. Great dudes.

 

Release of the Day: Foul Tip/Lil Tits 7" Split

Maximum Pelt did a number on this one. The search for sonic comparison between Lil Tits and Foul Tip is tricky: the only clear parallel is instrumentation, as both bands have bass and drums, which is to say that these bands pull different spools on the punk technicolor dreamcoat. But who listens to a record, especially a split for that matter, to hear the same song two to four times? No one cool.

First off, both bands are monsters. Lil Tits, who on these tracks feature Hanna Hazard, Madalyn Garcia, and Pixie Rose is on some serious witchage, a little bit Suspiria and a little bit Hocus Pocus. They tear through two songs on the b-side after a menacing intro, which locks into a noisy bass groove. Lil Tits ain't about the calm before the storm - fuck the calm before the storm. Now there's two storms, possibly three, and the pallid horseman of the apocalypse follows. These songs are shouted over menacing guitar lines, throbbing bass, and dynamic drums. Equal parts hardcore and stoner me
tal. Shit rips.

Foul Tip, drum and bass punk funk band starring Ed Bornstein and Adam Luksetich, are tight and fast. Like the best pop songs, "Madness" draws power from the interplay with tension and release. But Foul Tip does restraint so well that when the bass-driven explosion occurs and the band shouts "Cut this out/Can't go Back/I don't care/I caught the madness," it's a goddamn revelation. Wish the band had put two songs on this split too, but that's a good problem to have.