I’m curious how folks will react to this after all the “shit-gaze” and “lo-fi” angst in the comments section of the Psychedelic Horseshit hates Wavves post, but Eat Skull’s second full-length Wild And Inside is one of my favorite pop albums this year. Low-fidelity, surely, but frontman Rob Enbom writes immediately catchy melodies and pretty and noisy harmonies, so hissing more in the GBV or Tall Dwarfs sense. If you weren’t into the Oregon quartet’s Sick To Death, no matter: These dozen songs are sharper, tighter, and all together stronger, while maintaining some of the kitchen-sink racket. It took me forever to choose a song to post because I like most of them. In the end, I decided to go with opener “Stick To The Formula,” since it’s the one they put upfront.
In case you wanted some more background, remember they were part of MTV’s Portland is cool expose.
Wild And Inside is out now via Siltbreeze. You can hear some more of it (“Dawn In The Face”) at MySpace.
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Jesus that song sucks…I was expecting something catchy but I couldn’t get anything out of it…Maybe I am getting old or something, but all of these bands that people say resemble early GBV have all of this hiss and lo fi recording and none of the songwriting hooks or chops….I want to like Times New Viking and Waavves or whatever but none of their songs warrant repeated listening…I still can listen to songs from Bee Thousand or Vampire on Titus and the quality of the melodies are still great…oh well…
Yeah, it’s not a classic like the albums you mention, but it is at the top of the crop as far as the current sound goes. (And, re: my GBV mention, it’s clearly snottier/punkier than GBV… am thinking more about a sense of melody…) If you come across a copy of the album, give it a shot from start to finish…it works well that way.
“but it is at the top of the crop as far as the current sound goes.”
that is exactly true. i dislike a lot of that stuff, wavves for instance, but somehow i really dig eat skull.
The melody in this song is not good enough. There are hundreds of mediocre GBV songs like this, but GBV actually managed to make a couple of masterpiece albums.
@Marc: Your problem may be that you’re listening for melody and hooks despite the noise. The difference between you and people who really enjoy this kind of music may be that those of us who enjoy it like having our senses overwhelmed. We aren’t listening for melody and hooks despite the noise, but rather enjoying the noise as a counterpoint to the melody and hooks–which themselves are not always necessary for a song to be enjoyable. It sounds like you just prefer well-produced pop songs, which is fine, but also kind of boring/safe/conventional. Good pop songs have an immediacy that makes you want to listen to them over and over, but they don’t necessarily get better with each successive listen because the catchiest parts are immediately obvious to the ear. With noise and lo-fi music, the catchiest parts are not always immediately discernible, but rather they emerge over the course of successive listens. Even so, it’s probably not really worth listening to this kind of music if you don’t enjoy the clamor. Being a bit of a masochist definitely helps.
Hmm, well I am not sure how well produced the early GBV stuff is, so I can’t say I am only a fan of clean, safe, or “boring” as you say music…I don’t know if I am going to get my senses overwhelmed I would rather go with something heavier…No big deal, I just keep reading about how amazing all these bands are, Wavves and whatnot, and i just don’t get much our of it…The production can be total shit, I am cool with that, it can be noisy as hell, but I need a little something to grab onto….Not sure if that makes me “boring” or “safe”, those are kind of silly labels, it’s just not the type of stuff I enjoy….But hey I haven’t heard enough New Eat Skull songs to judge them at all, I will definitely try and listen to more of their stuff…OK
Sorry I thought the freakin name of the band was “New” Eat Skull….now I realize it was a new track by “Eat Skull”….pardon my dumbassedness on that point…I think I had Times New Viking on the brain…
This song is sick. Eat Skull are awesome. This new album isn’t as good as Sick To Death, but its still kick ass. All haters can kindly fuck off and jizz on their shitty Wavves album.
“Sorry, I’m not allowed to like this band until I know what the lead singer thinks of Wavves, then I’ll form an opinion based on that.”–Typical Stereogum Poster
yeah this Eat Skull record is real good; but fellow Portland weirdo-punks The Intelligence have my vote for lo-fi record of the year thus far. It’s undeniable how many great jams are on that baby. Do not miss it Brandon.
I’ll check them out, for sure.
You’re retarded, The Intelligence is from Seattle. Why don’t you do some research before you act like you know what you’re talking about. And calling them “Weirdo-Punks” is probably the stupidest description of any band I’ve ever heard.
“stupidest description” WHOOPS YR UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNY. also chill the fuck out.
Let’s go! Let’s go! L.E.T.S. G.O.!
If it were produced in a “boring/safe/conventional” no one would pay the least attention to the song. That’s the point. Scuzz it up to mask the fact that there’s nothing there, then sit back and watch everyone figure if it’s an abrasive mess it must be genius.
I’m highly amused by all the rancor that records like this ( which I like ), or Wavves, Sic Alps, Vivian Girls or whatever dredge up from the crowd. It’s just a ramshackle racket, and a good one, which is what constitues a rock n’ roll record for me. I’m really amused when the criticism comes from people who talk about these bands ‘not playing properly’. Jesus…I’ve had to put up with a decade of people talking about fucking prog rock bands like Radiohead, or whatever latest band Dave Sitek glops all his phony Eno crap on in the studio. I’m always amazed to realize how many of the ‘kids’ today are really just aching for a Pink Floyd to call their own. Creeps.
I really like this. I think its also time people start looking past the “lo-fi” sound of these bands and listening to the songs for what they are: Great pop songs with a punk rock kick. It’s really no different than an album having “hi-fi” production quality, except we’re just used to everything sounding glossier and crisper since that’s the majority of what’s out there. In the end, there’s a great song there whether it sounds like its ran through a busted muffler or tuned the heck out in a high-tech recording studio.
brandon, I probably have said this before but I really enjoy your posts here on Stereogum because they’re either 1) something I also enjoy but not many others give attention to or 2) are good new recommendations for myself to listen to.
Thanks, Michael_ … Much appreciated!
love me some noisy guitar rock with shit production. GBV, old pavement, sebadoh, etc. but the only one of these newer bands that i find appealing at all is times new viking. no age, vivian girls, wavves… the songs just suck. this one’s not so bad, i guess. better than the aforementioned.
eatskull roools
*snarling to keep in tone with above posts* How can anyone not love that adorable twee guitar?
new lo-fi that i’m feelin:
no age, jay reatard, vivian girls, crystal stilts…and that’s it. the rest are just not that good- that’s ok. The pavement, GBV, sebadoh era was coming from a very different place and went on to influence what we now call indie rock (indie yuppie). The new era is really not that “serious” if that makes any sense…
The Viv Girls dredge up rancor? Dredge it you say? There’s already a deep down hatred and they just pulley it right up, huh?
AND Radiohead are “prog”?! “PROG?!!!” Right from the start? Even ‘Just’?
Jesus I gotta read more music and music blogs and hit the dictionary…
Also ironically the first thing I thought when I heard this song was that it buzzes like a de-tuned ra-di-o….it prolly cost em extra to sound like they recorded on a Fisher Price tape player…
Putting this in with No-Age (or even Wavves if I’m in the right mood) is like putting your favourite “always gets me laid” shirt in the wash with a sock you had to wipe your arse with-sure they’re both clothes and they’re both getting washed but and lumping them together makes you suspect of the other..