Dubstep worries me. Every time I see it describe a band, I cringe a little inside. I don’t know why I do this, maybe I’m not English enough? Maybe I’m not tough enough? Honestly, when people ask me what my literal beef is with dubstep, I have a difficult time explaining. So when I saw Shit and Shine’s new offering was going to be dubstep based, I had two thoughts:
1. Perhaps these guys can enlighten my mind.
2. Perhaps I’m going to start disliking Shit and Shine.
Thankfully, it was the former rather than the latter. For one, they haven’t given up any of their trademark aggression and noise. If you ever needed music to listen to while you acted in the most depraved manner possible, you could do worse than Shit and Shine. Shit and Shine are gross, disgusting, utterly foul people with the most twisted sense of humor I’ve seen since Lou Reed sang about how you shouldn’t shoot someone in the head since you’d stain the carpet.
“Bass Puppy” comes up first. Named after one of the sample players in the band, it is the more chaotic of the two tracks. Multiple grooves are born and destroyed through the course of the song. Random distorted vocals blast through the colossal noise. Lumbering along, it eventually transforms into a high-pitched locked groove towards the end.
Alternatively, “Fuck You Folk Singers” remains the calmer track. It displays Shit and Shine’s talent of letting something go on for an undefined period of time. Things such as subtly are put into use as the track threatens to burst out into full blown assault. By hinting at this rather than actually delivering it, it ends up being quite fantastic. Also, they apparently know their audience through those Pussy Galore samples “I hate your fucking guts” for their remarkably bizarre album “Exile on Main Street”.
Overall, I feel like Shit and Shine helped me through this often disappointing genre.