Sloths is a Portland-based trio who’ve been described as a cross between Botch, Slint, Old Man Gloom, Shellac, Converge and NOT the 60’s garage/punk band of the same name who recently reconvened in a hail of revivalism and the discovery of their old 45s going for shitloads on eBay! For these particular Sloths, a good marker is if you took the Gravity Records catalogue, fist fucked it with the Hydra Head catalogue and peddled the goopy mess out of K-Tel’s Louisville branch, which kinda makes sense, but doesn’t. And in case you needed another wrench thrown into the mess, the band add to their refusal to be pigeon-holed by issuing releases on a whole host of labels, including the three labels (The Ghost is Clear Records, Don’t Live Like Me Records and Illuminasty Records) that are co-releasing their latest EP, Twenty Years. Below is a preview stream of the record and, to further contribute to the confusion, an interview that does very little to deliver any serious info on the band. Yes, doing word association may be a lazy cop-out on my part, but it’s always fun and I’m sure all you amateur psychoanalysts out there will have a field day reading into some of their responses. Labias and genitals, the Deciblog gives you Sloths.
Word association. You know the drill. Go!
Rain
Alec van Staveren (bass): I get wet
Kyle Bates (guitar/vox): Depression
Nate Sonenfeld (drums/vox): Normal
Laptop
Alec: Computin’
Kyle: Recording (Drowse music)
Nate: Yup
Cookie dough
Alec: Bad
Kyle: Cookie Mueller
Nate: Okay
Vegetables
Alec: Good
Kyle: Smile
Nate: Right now
Politics
Alec: Arguing
Kyle: “fuck that” -My roommate Kevin.
Nate: Space Unicorn
(Fill in the blank) www._____.com
Alec: up the hub
Kyle: www.oligopolistrecords.com
Nate: http://instantsandstorm.com/
Hoodie
Alec: Zip
Kyle: Neurosis
Nate: Racist People
Hockey
Alec: Bloody
Kyle: Band from Quad Cities (Ice Hockey, a scary place to go sometimes).
Nate: Crossfade
Tour
Alec: Party
Kyle: Drunk
Nate: 🙂
Black
Alec: Pitch
Kyle: Space
(Fill in the blank) Michael______
Alec: Jordan
Kyle: bland
Nate: Travolta
Kangaroo
Alec: Jack
Kyle: Pocket
Nate: Okay
Cheesecake
Kyle: Crust?
Nate: There
Isis
Alec: Post
Kyle: Hive Destruction
Nate: Airport
Beer
Alec: Outburst
Kyle: Camo Black Ice XXXXX
Nate: 🙂
Bay Area
Alec: Chill
Kyle: whatfunlifewas, foie gras, king woman, tigon
Nate: DOC!!!
Nipples
Alec: Chill
Kyle: Nate
Nate: Radio tower
Sunshine
Alec: Burning
Kyle: Depression
Nate: Drunk
(Fill in the blank) Nuclear ____
Alec: Blast
Kyle: Assault
Nate: George W. Bush
Favourite band
Alec: Kix
Kyle: Slint/My Bloody Valentine
Nate: The Locust
Book
Alec: Twilight
Kyle: On tour: Anne Carson, Haruki Murakami, Alison Bechdel
Nate: Ewwww
Cloud
Alec: Nothings
Kyle: Dead
Nate: Starfox
Knuckle
Alec: Punch
Kyle: Knife
Nate: Funkle
Florida
Alec: Flo-rida
Kyle: Low
Nate: Tramar Lacel Dillard
David Lynch
Alec: Mulholland Drive
Kyle: Rabbits
Nate: Showtime!
666
Alec: 311
Kyle: Geogaddi
Nate: Alec
Burrito
Alec: Tour
Kyle: Live Mas
Nate: Everyday
This “interview”
Alec: Jammin’
Kyle: ha.
Nate: Beavis
As an outro, please introduce your band in whatever manner you see fit:
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, SLOTHS plays music that is dark, fast, noisy and enveloping. Dynamically orchestrated by three seasoned musicians, Sloth’s songs are simultaneously expansive, exacting and emotionally charged. The guitars skirt from nihilistic noise to haunted bouts of swirling melody while spazzy drums flail from blast beats to d-beats to cymbal-destroying grooves. The music is anchored by sludge-laden, riff-focused bass playing and accented by shredded throat vocals. Formed in late 2010 with the goal of creating heavy music without boundaries, Sloths has released a demo and two EPs, the latter of which, Knives, was pressed on vinyl via Black Lake Records, Don’t Live Like Me Records, Loaded Sound Records, and Hash Crimes. The band has toured extensively throughout the west coast and across the United States.
The Twenty Years vinyl is single-sided on clear wax with black inner sleeves, a nice quality jacket and a double-sided insert. There are a bunch o’ places you can pick this up from:
Sloths on Bandcamp
The Ghost is Clear Records
Don’t Live Like Me Records
Illuminasty Records
*photo by Kyle Keating, nabbed from the band’s Facebook page*
