National Acrobat

It’s a far too common and familiar story, one where an innovative, brilliant band is almost utterly ignored and reviled in its time, only to see years later others find a modicum of success and popularity with the sound they helped innovate. But genius, especially the musical kind, is rarely recognised as such, and the National Acrobat were criminally insane musical geniuses of the highest order whose legacy is still felt today (members currently reside in Black Cross and Breather Resist) and whose influence can be detected in genre-straddling acts like the Blood Brothers. TNA collects all three of the Acrobat’s EPs (Can’t Stop Casper Adams, The National Acrobat, For All Practical Purposes, Is Dead and their eponymous debut), the It’s Nothing Personal seven-inch, as well as a few unreleased and compilation tracks. Sonically, the Acrobat’s evolution is charted from their nascent beginnings as a Guilt-ridden post-hardcore unit, to the peculiar, challenging shit-disturbers once dubbed Louisville, Kentucky’s most hated. Along the way, the Acrobat’s stop-start spasms, convulsive rhythms, time signature fuckery, unyielding vocals and unique mix of punk, metal, math and noise rock, and hardcore are introduced, redefined and honed to a brilliant degree, culminating with the greatness of their final release, The Can’t Stop Casper Adams EP. But it’s the It’s Nothing Personal seven-inch that hits their combination of peculiar, bizarre and captivating the hardest. There’s was a sound (much like fellow noise provocateurs Ink & Dagger and Botch) that challenged, confronted and engaged; the tragedy is that so few have heard it. But even though the National Acrobat are dead, their legacy continues to grow.