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By Offerings for Brain Arts Organization
June 24, 2020
BAO is dedicated to uplifting and supporting the voices of Black content creators and we recognize the discussions of white supremacy and police brutality are essential and ongoing. Click here to check out our recent blog post, a toolkit of resources for supporting BIPOC creatives.
*We believe art is essential to revolution, and are also dedicated to covering experimental music. We asked Offerings to give us their thoughts on Albert DeMuth’s recent release, Albert DeMuth // Thot Audit. Enjoy!
When not making wild music AD's uses a 3rd moniker of some kind to do incredible screen printing and visual art projects. We call him Aaron and we thank him for designing, printing and installing the signature DAP stairwell wallpaper and printing the Brain Arts Org wallpaper in the big bathroom.
To 'Thot Audit' someone is to report them for sex work income on online streaming services to the IRS. Wretched! This is also the name of the second band that adorns this tasty split tape. Lots of interesting aspects here- from the nice dual vocals on "Mirabai" (not unlike the Crystal Stilts ) to the more frantic pace of "Vienna Trigger Finger" that speedwalks through a Melesch-type jaunt like it's trying to find the loo - it's pleasant but punk. Closing with an 8 minute journey, "Shoot Pence First" might land them in jail for the song title and for all the interesting twists and turns taken throughout. Thot Audit's guitars have a thoughtful, suppressed quality about them (unlike Aaron's work in Cottaging). This allows the playful and discreet synth to really push the psychedelic affect up without saturating everything in purple haze. All packed with just the right amount of reverb.
Back to Side 1, Albert DeMuth (of relation to Aaron? Who knows?) sets you up by offering low tempo despair on "The Big Fallout", then proceeds to gradually increase the experimentation on the rest of the tracks. It's a bold move and it works: some kind of sticks on guitar strings, then vibrato chords, and some screwed down drums - it all sounds deliberate and tight. If you like your Link Wray mixed with just a faint whiff of formaldehyde, this is for you. The percussion is compressed extra crispy and the modest reverb, overdrive, and delay mix on the guitar tone is perfected. The vocals fit the mood perfectly - mostly opting for a forlorn lilt with an oblique stone-face delivery on "A Charitable Man".
A good match up of two awesome Providence projects. So buy the slick packaging cassette format here: albertdemuth.bandcamp.com/