Queen City Sounds Podcast S2E40: Buck Gooter

Buck Gooter, photo by Billy Hunt

Buck Gooter is a “Ghost-motivated electronic rock” band from Harrisonburg, Virginia originally consisting of the duo of Terry Turtle and Billy Brett. Across many releases starting in 2006, Buck Gooter has charted a unique creative vision from the music to the artwork and performance style. At times a self-styled “industrial blues” group Turtle and Brett infused their highly political and insightful songs with an electrifying intensity and layered aesthetics fusing the avant-garde with the immediately accessible. Like a punk band that got into arthouse films and drew more inspiration from the likes of The Screamers, Butthole Surfers and Chrome than the usual suspects. Turtle tragically passed away on November 20, 2019 but left the legacy of the band to Brett who has continued Buck Gooter and releasing albums to which Turtle contributed posthumously including 2021’s Head In A Bird Cage and the new album Ghost Brain which includes samples of Turtle’s vocals and music with contributions from Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers who recorded, mixed and mastered the record at Death By Audio in Queens, NY. It represents but the end of a chapter in the life of the band and a new beginning.

Listen to our interview with Billy Brett of Buck Gooter on Bandcamp and see the band on tour in the USA now including on Friday, April 14, 2023 at Glob in Denver with Polly Urethane, Nightshark and Pythian Whispers, show at 9, $10. The tour itinerary below following the Denver show all with Kilynn Lunsford.

4/15/23 – Albany, CA @ Ivy Room^ 4/16/23 – San Francisco, CA @ Thrillhouse^
4/18/23 – San Pedro, CA @ The Sardine^ 4/19/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records Roadhouse^
4/21/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Lost Leaf^ 4/22/23 – Miami, AZ @ Miami Loco Arts Festival^

*Duo shows
^with Kilynn Lunsford

buckgooter.com

Buck Gooter on YouTube

Buck Gooter on Instagram

Buck Gooter on Facebook

DISCHAAAGEEE’s Frantic, Synth-driven Song “Xuxu” Sits at the Sweet Spot Between Garage Rock, Synth Pop and Post-punk

DISCHAAAGEEE, photo courtesy the artist

Imagine a lo-fi blend of Devo, The Fall and Quintron and that will give you some idea what you’re in for listening to “Xuxu” by Japanese band DISCHAAAGEEE. Its propulsive pace, regimented yet borderline unhinged dynamics, playful synth melodies and enigmatic vocals sit in the sweet spot between garage rock, synth pop and post-punk. It sounds futuristic in the way it free associates musical ideas and recontextualizes them to make something that draws inspiration from what has come before without being beholden to it stylistically even if the spirit of that music can be heard echoing in the distorted gyrations and frantic pulses of “Xuxu.” Fans of Pow! and The Screamers will appreciate the songs surrealistic soundscaping and raw energy as well as its undeniably catchy tunefulness. Listen to “Xuxu” on Spotify and connect with DISCHAAAGEEE at the links below.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3OEW90E5e6KLcFFRrDJCba
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK3Eokb8k_1NsZO4IQnLPrw
https://twitter.com/dischaaageee
https://www.facebook.com/uch.kenhttps://www.instagram.com/dischaaageee

“Gasoline” by Art-Punks Rx27 is a Cool, Scuzzy Deathrock Song

Rx27_RikkAgnew1_sm
Rx27, photo courtesy the artist

When “Gasoline” starts up, you think for a second that it’s going to go into a warped version of “Repo Man” by Iggy Pop but then the rhythm fully engages and its headlong pace and cutting but melodic guitar riff, helped by Rikk Agnew formerly of The Adolescents and Christian Death (circa the 1982 classic Only Theatre of Pain), are an integral part of the song and its tale of a combustible relationship that is mutually destructive but irresistible. The kind where both people know how fucked up it is but the drama and the darkness are a turn on for both people and they’re going to ride it out until it flames out in spectacular fashion. The metaphor of relationship as perilous car ride is borne throughout but especially the part that begins with “crash and burn” and completes with “built for speed,” I’m what you need.“ Singer Joie Blaney takes some lines and MisMaxine Murrderr others as they sing/scream almost as call and response but also together. And dark as the song goes there’s something sweet about it at heart like two cynical hedonists who’ve seen it all get each other and get to each other by bypassing their defenses and numbness to vanilla stimulation even if it will cost them in the end. Listen to “Gasoline,” produced by Paul Roessler of The Screamers, 45 Grave and Nina Hagen fame, on YouTube and follow Rx27 at the links below.

therx27.com
twitter.com/therx27
facebook.com/therx27
instagram.com/rx27_official