DANA – CLEAN LIVING

Another moment in time, steadily building on foundations already established. It’s not the moment alcoholics think is their existential moment of clarity; instead languish in familiarity and understanding. It may seem nonsensical but it’ll be clear in a minute, or, as long as it takes to get to the fucking point here.

Clean Living is the Columbus, Ohio band DANA’s third full-length release and I’m not sure there’s any opportunity to mince words here about the quintet, which includes vocalist/theremin manipulator Madeline Jackson, guitarist/synth player Chris Lute, drummer Brian Baker, bassist/mouth harp(er) Dan Matos, and sax player Kevin Green. These art-rockers always seem to take the beaten path with its musical antics usually dangling on the fringe. Descriptions like “Dadaist” have been tossed around – notably by the band itself – but it isn’t farfetched as DANA seems to strive for something with much more meaning. More so than your average player. Don’t get things confused though because while the band may allow its guitars to bend and squeal into a multitude of variations, they’re able to keep your attention with interestingly constructed melodies. “Time Suck(s)” offers the rolling thunder of its drums, while odd synths swirl around the background. Odd guitar interplay seems to follow Jackson’s vocal melody throughout, which makes things interesting to say the least. We can’t simply disregard its charm. The group shows its fangs though on “Blueteeth” where it enters the fray harshly with a squaller of guitars before moving into jam session structuring with concise precision. Instruments clash against one another but it’s ok, there’s a method to the madness as Baker & Matos remain consistent with the rhythm itself!

Make no mistake though, the band’s punk nature is always present, as it moves with intention and purpose. If you’re broke, you occasionally have to make cheap comparisons and for the DANA, it’s difficult to sidestep it on “R U Dead?” The song itself uses some of the same tricks and styles a Dayton, Ohio act once used, vocally & musically and hearing this, the comparisons are negligible. It can’t be avoided but it doesn’t disqualify the song’s potency with its clean guitar interplay. While the band is intentional in what it does, they sometimes make things look too easy, like on “7 Years Bad Coke.” The band opens with its steady rhythm as Lute moves all around with Beefheart-ian enthusiasm as Green lightly treads around the track. He’s always present here, although he might seem to get lost in the mix. It’s an interesting composition with Jackson casually speaking over the track for the most part. But the band is never comfortable moving in just one direction as it takes a turn shifting rhythms and structure all around. That’s pretty bad ass.

Through clean living, anything is possible, and with DANA’s Clean Living, the band attempts to move in a multitude of directions while always holding onto its own identity. One thing about the group, you never know what it’s going to do next, but one thing is certain: we should always be here to see where it goes. That’s for damn sure.

CASUAL HEX – ZIG ZAG LADY ILLUSION II

Do you ever feel like you’re late to a party? As time has passed, I’ve only felt that FOMO one time in the last few years and literally cursed myself for it. But we move on, and it doesn’t happen anymore. Now, things are just chalked up to a missed opportunity and “What are we doing tonight, and what are we eating. BUT! Some moments explicitly catch your attention, and this right here could be one of them.

What is it that I know about the great northwest’s Casual Hex, not a whole damn lot but that’s ok. What I do know is that Casual Hex is Jessie Odell, Erica Miller & Keegan Wiltshire, who have been releasing material for the past decade, beginning with their 4-song DEMOS. The band just released its first album in 7 years, Zig Zag Lady Illusion II (Youth Riot Records), a fair play of spoken/sung lyricism wrapped in an assortment of dissonant guitars with post-punk enthusiasm. Vocal deliveries might share similarities to Kim Gordon takes while the music is sometimes sparse, conflated with dynamic changes and walls of guitars taking on a life all their own. The rhythm section isn’t one thing that can be ignored, moving mechanically yet firmly organic.

The band opens with its punchy and direct “The System” with droning guitar notes layered on top of dissonant guitar, underscored with a rhythm that’s just unrelenting. They’re all locked in and throw everything at you all at once. Do they have your attention? Yes they fucking do. Casual Hex has a way about itself, with the ability to formulate that same power & discordant guitar play and interweave it with catchy melodies that set them apart from the rest of the pack. “Letters & Numbers,” for example, wraps that same dissonance of notes & riffs alongside a bouncy melody that reels you right in without a second thought. The bass line plays right off those notes and captures something varied and exquisite, and as with the music, the spoken lyricism isn’t forced. Everything gels and coalesces perfectly. “Like A Product” does the same, albeit to a lesser extent, but the rhythm is infectious, the stop/starts are added in for good measure, but it’s those guitars that ring out that help give the song a lot of definition and color. The group is intriguing and, with its music, forces its will on others; there is no other way. “Head Control” powers right through from beginning to end and is completely unrelenting, even when those power chords pause briefly in between.

Sometimes there’s no need for words. If music is able to take a complete hold of your senses, someone somewhere is doing something right. With Zig Zag Lady Illusion II, Casual Hex has done that from beginning to end. One sure sign that this is well worth it is when someone like me tells you he’s going to pick up a copy of the record and find the one that preceded it. Plain and simple.

PIXEL GRIP – PERCEPTICIDE: THE DEATH OF REALITY

The time is always NOW! Recording under the moniker Pixel Grip, the Chicago trio – Rita Lukea, Tyler Ommen, and Jonathon Freund – has been together since 2018, ripping together its own style of electronic music cohesively piecing together dark & cold wave, EBM, and electropop.  It’s been three years since the release of its ARENA, the band’s second album that enticed and lured listeners in with its siren call(s). The band, fascinated with queer music that had emerged from discos and clubs the past few decades, just might be derivative unto itself. Pixel Grip’s new release Percepticide: The Death Of Reality delves into the underbelly of the group itself, releasing a collection of intensified songs that might be emotionally draining, but will also take a toll on your physical.

With the album, Pixel Grip embraces its EBM identity (Electronic body music) in spades, as the world crashes around it. “Bet You Do” just might be testament to that as it opens with its repetitive movement/rhythm, which could have been culled from a late 90s Al Jourgensen composition. Sans any grinding, guttural guitars. But the group takes full advantage of the throbbing pattern flow, and it’s non-stop pulsation with embellished synths wrapped around it. With “Stamina,” there’s an over-abundance of sexual tension as Lukea repeatedly sings “The party’s not over until I say it’s over / Daddy come over and fuck me over and over…” The music matches the anxious lyrics she divulges, fully & completely sexually charged, leaving all inhibitions on the dancefloor. There’s no apology, and none is required as the trio offers its best.  

Now while the trio has the ability to charge dance floors & electrify bodies with whomever finds themselves enthralled by it, Pixel Grip is fascinatingly chameleonlike. The beautiful “Crows Feast” which gives another perspective to Rita Lukea’s reach and range. The alluring backdrop gives Lukea a colorful canvas of sound to layer the sugary sweet words delivered to give it much more depth. “Noise” takes a darker approach, though, oozing with a wicked melancholy. It just seems here on this album that more chances are taken, especially with the electro-pop of “Jealousy is Lethal,” an infectious number that I would find surprising if it didn’t hit any pop charts. Lukea’s ethereal background “ah” vocals, along with her lyrics “…you can’t burn the truth/jealousy is lethal” are intense! It’s the breathy vocal delivery from track to track here that indulges interest, but the canopies of sound surrounding it all, is imposing. 

Just three albums in, Pixel Grip holds tightly to a sound it has devoured and regurgitated into something identifiable as its own. With Percepticide: The Death Of Reality, the band has ascended, creating its best work to date. There is nothing like Pixel Grip, and it’s only scratched the surface.