Album Review
Lithics – “Mating Surfaces” – [Kill Rock Stars]
Thurston Hunger 10/3/2018 12-inch, A Library
Portland Oregon four piece deliver the first full
length, picking up where their “Borrowed Floors” EP
left off. Angular anger, packed in little brittle
post-punk cuts. A weird blend of panic and calm,
especially in the husky numeric singing of Aubrey
Hornor. Her guitar combined with Mason Crumley’s
spark up a kind of minimal take on Television.
Mostly barre-chord-free, “Still Forms” has a sleazy
breeze to it, half chords on the half shell. Is it
their accidental take on reggae? “Boyce” closes side
A with a sort of slow police siren guitar interplay.
“Cheryl” is a steady song of unsteadiness, sounds
as if Aubrey’s singing “I’m not sure…I’m not sure.”
Vocal repetition and tight riffs chase themselves a lot.
Most of the album though builds energy when bassist
Bob Desaulniers can get a little more involved, and
drummer Wiley Hickson can pick up the pace. Songs
like “Edible Door” (!!) and “Excuse Generator” hit
like tiny TIA’s. With lyrics that saw your corpus callosum
in half, they feel like they are left over from a redacted
diary. But your knees are still working…old punk
dancing guy. That last track has a nice bizarro break,
beat poet with noisy improv.
you heard it 38 times on kfjc! most recently:
- 154 days ago, Reject Girl played Still Forms
- 573 days ago, Zero Gravity played Boyce
- 1049 days ago, Zero Gravity played Edible Door
- 1140 days ago, Zero Gravity played Boyce
- 1301 days ago, Zero Gravity played Cheryl/Dancing Guy
12345 S. El Monte Road Los Altos Hills, California 94022
Public Inspection File
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