Lowdown

Right here is the most bizarre, off-the-wall circus you've never been to. Simultaneously frightening and inspirationally carefree, the Lowdown churn out the dirtiest, crunchiest, artiest punk rock lo-fi pop experiment since who knows what. Generally each track is a new twisted turn in some creepy or ridiculous direction, except a few, like "I'll Turn Your Blood Into Ants," which momentarily gives up the shifty lunatic vocals for a traditional (in the loosest sense of the word) distorted shouting and develops a less grating bopping bass-line-as-beat thing that you can actually follow and nod along to. Beneath all the madness and the most obscure lyrics ever, the Lowdown seem to be preaching good old punk rock anarchism, or at least they allude to it with lines like "Hooray for downfall, destruction, demise & the weeds that crack the cement right where it lies." Of course you'd never know this unless the art-crazed instrumental madness occurred to you as a weird political metaphor, which it probably really isn't. "Balmies" is the cleanest pop track, a tiny instrumental orchestra of probably half-broken equipment that repeats the same kooky thing until its abrupt end. This is dance-punk for kids who really can't dance, a low-octave catastrophe tempered (in the loosest sense of the word) by let-loose feel-good wailing, vocal experiments and absolutely no harmonies. The Lowdown's motto must be somewhere along the lines of "if you're gonna go off the deep end, then go right the fuck off the deep end." And in some sick way, it's all very lovable. P.S. They once played a show in a tree!