Where they from?
Brownsville, Texas. Is it just me or does the word “Brownsville” just scream poop joke? Like, “What happened to your pants?” “Oh, they took a one way ticket to BROWNSVILLE.” This is what happens when I’m forced to stay inside. Isaac Newton discovered gravity while he was in quarantine, I write poop jokes that even a four-year-old would think are stupid. THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN REDUCED TO.
Why the hype?
I originally stumbled upon these Brownsvillers last year while I was compiling my clearly comprehensive and authoritative Top 50 Grind/Powerviolence Albums of 2010-2019 series list and thought “Wow, these guys are pretty good, I should write about them,” but never got around to it due to the excitement and pressure of the massive undertaking I was then enmeshed in.
Time passes, season’s change, the early bird gets the worm and nothing stays the same, but last week I once again serendipitously stumbled upon their latest release on a YouTube channel and thought “OK, now is the time.”
Musically they share some sonic qualities with NorCal stalwarts FIEND, themselves a perennial favorite of this column, yet add a certain level of precision and tightness that can lead to comparisons with their European counterparts. It’s the mixture of low brow scumminess and emphasis on relentless velocity that initially caught my ear and has kept me paying attention all week, a lifetime for those with short attention spans.
Latest Release?
SHOULD’VE GONE FASTER!!, released in May. You really have to appreciate the idea that this band essentially made a “concept EP” and the concept is that they are apologizing for not playing fast enough, with the added layer of irony that they play a good deal faster than most current American grindcore bands. The genius here is that the group has decided to utilize the most out of the EP form, which I have previously stated is the most quintessential musical format for grind and powerviolence. I really hope more bands follow suite and start focusing on creating EPs that are unique and dynamic listening experiences rather than full-length album’s that are almost half filler songs. It would be the Brownsville way.
