DBA124 BLACK PUS – ‘Zero’ 12″
When Lightning Bolt rose to popularity in the early 00s, audiences were left with their jaws dropped at how a rock band could simultaneously be exploding with more power and ecstatic energy than ever heard before while being refined down to just a duo of musicians on one drum kit and one string instrument. A decade later, and Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale has taken this impressive duality to an ever further extreme. As Black Pus, he now operates completely alone while wrangling even more force and chaos into a tightly knit rock act. With a World’s Fair sensibility of “the power of human ingenuity and dedication”, Chippendale moves his body across the drums at an Olympic level of expertise while also taking advantage of the most modern in electronics to generate wild, noise-inspired sounds from the mechanics of his drum kit. The act itself is a singular machine, harnessing everything both nature and science have gifted to humanity. A true American rock act, turning the frontiers of the unknown into pure head banging fun. 2013 has seen Black Pus release a critically acclaimed album, ‘All My Relations’, on Thrill Jockey, and tour the globe across America, Japan, and even Dubai, with a full European/UK tour to come this October. With the 12″ ‘Zero’ on Deathbomb Arc, Black Pus showcases the essence of the act with a nearly unbroken 40 min blast of what the act is: virtuoso drumming and “where the fuck did that come from?” noises. Expect no pop songs here. This is the force of everything Chippendale has been working towards for nearly two decades now with no remorse. ‘Zero’ is packaged in hand screened artwork by Brian Chippendale himself. Limited to 500 copies.
DBA125 I.E. – ‘Most Importantly’ 12″
I.E. (aka Margot Padilla) has been helping audiences lose their inhibitions for nearly a decade now. Emerging out of the same LA “Ravesploitation” scene that gave us Captain Ahab, I.E.’s music exists somewhere between bedroom K-Pop star, chola rave queen with a computer programming job, and outcast from the mall punk scene. Regardless of how you describe her music, Margot has always been intent on bringing the fun to everyone. So while a great deal of her shows happen at LA mainstay The Smell, some of her most memorable shows have happened at places like a farm with goats in the audience and even at Hot Topic (where she pretty quickly got kicked off stage). While her music focuses on dancefloor ready with heavy nods to wide-appeal, Margot uses this platform to reach people with a very unique sociopolitical voice. Young, poor, Latinas, rarely have representation in music, but through I.E. they do. Margot has a knack for communicating some pretty dark truths about her own life in a manner that is really fun without sacrificing how serious she is.