BATSHITCRAZIES - :-(

Опубликовано: 22 Ноябрь 2024
на канале: Jimmy

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This is one of those bands names that feels like it not only neccessitates capital letters, and expressly demands it. "Batshitcrazies"? No, that doesn't hit the eye quite right. "BATSHITCRAZIES"? Better.

This is a two-piece garage punk duo from Haifa, Israel: a country that, in every conversation I've had with someone from the region, the words "shit", "place", "to", and "live" were seldomly too far apart from one another. And when the soil beneath your feet is enough to inspire frustration and unrest, then I'd imagine a project like BATSHITCRAZIES would only come about as naturally as flies to shit -- and "natural" this band surely is. I find myself hard-pressed to provide a description better than the one provided by the band themselves. It reads as follows:

"WE ARE THE BATSHITCRAZIES AND WE ARE HERE TO BE MAD AND SCREAM ABOUT STUFF"

And... that's it. That just about sums up their work to a tee, really. Rampant scream-harmonies aside, even the group's instrumentals manages to embody the core ethos of the DIY punk rock spirit with an indecorous flourish, unabashedly projecting their rudimentary songwriting prowess through little more than a bass guitar -- the weighty reverberations of the top string forever pulsating at the forefront of the mix -- and a stripped-down drum kit, whose primitive tom-centric rhythms further stains the hue of the muddied bass melodies with a garage-like sliminess. And as bare-bones and unadorned as these leading melodies can be, BATSHITCRAZIES succeeds in hastily discoloring their compositions with multiple layers of auditory defilement, with elongated synthesizer keystrokes ringing freely -- stray guitar string faintly emanating from the rear -- as supplementary noisemakers occupy negative space otherwise left unfilled. Considering the duo's limited instrumental arrangements, they've managed to present a surprisingly dense, hard-hitting sound within their debut LP, one that quickly grew on me with repeat listens. It's easy to find something to appreciate in something so... candid and forthright. The group's wails and screams -- vocal chords audibly straining with intensity, chanting along to these multi-lingual incantations -- fortifies the group's simplified appeal with a charming earnestness. It's... raw, it's pissed, and it's damn catchy. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than it actually is, it doesn't need to. As brazenly expressed in this album's closing words, "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY GUITAR
THAT WON'T STOP ME FROM BECOMING A STAR". BATSHITCRAZIES' skeletal post-punk jams succeeds in empowering through sheer dissension and protest, sheer, tangible catharsis, and reminds you that punk isn't all about the music: it's the attitude that sells, and these two have got it in spades.

And here's some credits I was asked to plug:

"Recording and mix: Yonatan Cadan
Master: Ran Yeshurun
Guitars, synths, piano, bass and vocals: Michal Leshansky
Drums, percussions noise and vocals: Talia Ben-Arie
Cover photo: Orit Siman-tov
Designed by BATSHITCRAZIES
All songs written and composed by BATSHITCRAZIES
Recorded at "Shovach studios", Haifa."

TRACK LIST:
POOR OL' MISH - 0:00
BLAME NOTHING BUT MYSELF - 1:49
POSTINO! - 3:35
FRIEND/TREND - 5:13
NEVER FELT LIKE THIS BEFORE - 6:51
PAS YITZUR - 8:52
HAITI META - 9:52
GLEN COCO - 11:30
TEL HABIV - 13:30
USE YOUR WEAPONS - 15:29
TWO PIGEONS - 16:59

SUPPORT: https://batshitcrazies.bandcamp.com/a...
DOWNLOAD: https://www.mediafire.com/file/dbmtwl...