Way back in the '00s, New York's Parts & Labor made a version of smeary, psychedelic warehouse noise-rock that actually rocked, like with riffs and choruses and stuff. After breaking up in 2012, Parts & Labor are back, with their new album Set Of All Sets dropping next month. We've already heard the 20-minute, four-part lead single "Endless Cycle," as well as the relatively straightforward follow-up "Haunted Limbs." We get another song today.
Parts & Labor's latest has the very cool title "Arterial Material." It's a fast, dazed, synth-damaged freakout with multiple fakeout endings and a weirdly pretty chorus. Hearing this now, I'm wondering whether King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard learned something from the first incarnation of Parts & Labor. (As King Gizzard used to be, the reunited Parts & Labor lineup is a double-drummer situation, and one of them is Stereogum contributor Chris Weingarten.) Singer/guitarist BJ Warshaw opens the song with feedback generated in his hearing aids and audiology tests. Here's what he says about it:
"Arterial Material" grapples lyrically with health issues and the challenges of navigating our frequently inadequate care systems. I wrote the lyrics long before the delusional, anti-science fever dream known as "MAHA" came to prominence. On the one hand, the song confronts head on how hard it is to separate fact from fiction, to make sound choices when faced with dire side effects, to determine whether the latest trend is truly a miracle elixir or merely a pharmaceutical corporation’s cash grab. On the other, in spite of the frustrations I’m vocalizing around the slow deterioration of my physical self, I’m so grateful for the care I’ve received. The song kicks off with feedback generated from my hearing aids, prescribed to mitigate my fairly crippling tinnitus, alongside samples from my audiology testing. Nestled in the cacophony are audio samples from my various MRIs.
Check it out below.
Set Of All Sets is out 7/10 on Ernest Jenning.
