Similar Items – “Similar Items”
“Everything’s worse than it fuckin’ seems on the shit-stained side of history.” So starts “Too Many Assholes,” a song, possibly, written about the TNB staff. The tune/tone starts all sludge-y and doom-y and ominously in a lo-fi, industrial, distorted way that reminds me of the great, Iggy Pop album “The Idiot.”
“Garbage in equals garbage out. A snap of the fingers and you foam at the mouth.” Damn, this band’s got my modus operandi down pat! And maybe, society’s, too! “You got fooled ’cause you all don’t think…Everything you believe is a crock of shit.” Well, whether they’re referring to TNB or our current life or both, once this song does kick in, it feels like an elephant stampede amped up on volume and velocity. And as the wave of venom continues to rise so does the pace and rhythm until it relents/resumes to the original awesome groove which is also, how I would describe this song.
After a sound bite, “I Spent The Rent,” barrels out like a barrel full of monkeys shot up with methamphetamine. This song is an expression of grunge-y, hardcore, punk, sludge and is either a landlord’s nightmare or an adventuresome liberty spree, and I choose to choose the later. “Should I spend it at the mall or just buy a bunch of drugs? Maybe I’ll blow it on expensive Persian rugs.” I’d say give it to St. Francis House the biggest homeless shelter in Boston, I do.
This band reminds me of The Girls and The Rentals, both early Boston art/punk bands. And with their explosions of energy, squealing guitars that have what sounds like nervous breakdowns and the instruments moving as one big slab of monolithic concrete. This is another great tune chock full of noise and fury.
“Could’ve been a hero today, could’ve been but you didn’t really want to.” Are the first lines of “Weakest Of The Pack” that moves along with energetic, industrial sludge along with echo-y vocals and dissonant guitar notes that spiral upwards like knives looking for the kill. This song embodies nihilism, disconnection and aggressive bleakness to such a degree, that I feel I’m living in the eighties again but also because there’s some desperate, emotional expression as well. “Your moment’s gone and it’s never coming back. Weakest of the pack.” But this is one of the strongest, most potent tunes on this recording.
“Trash” is a full, headlong hardcore attack with vocals spewing bile onto a gray, industrial cloud of noise with a banging rhythm- whose intent seems to be, to slaughter all hearing creatures in a one hundred mile radius. This, it succeeds to do, along with lyrics like, “You fucking bigot, you’re so fucking dull…the knee jerk reaction is what you’re all about. You fucking cheat, you run a scam. You destroy people’s lives and you don’t give a damn.” Hmm, I’d say this song might be about corporate business with their book, “How To Be A Psychopath And Get (Overpaid) By Being One.” The words and the music just roar and bash and talks about how some people have so much but they really have no worth- they’re just trash! And the reasonable thing to do with them is to throw them away. But this song is the exact opposite, this song is great and full and rich of value!
Similar Items is a band I know nothing about. I checked out their bandcamp because they were on a show I expected to see, but that didn’t pan out.
Still, they interested me enough to write about them.
And I strongly feel this should not deter you from listening to them, as well.
Because what you might find is music that moves with a bulldozer of passion, with a sound that is blurred but hits hard. Lyrics that strike strong against life and society, that vent their frustrations and disillusionment with a life that is unfair, and a world that is absurdly stupid, mean and vicious- all at the same time.
But I’m not here to critique life. I’m here to sell hot dogs, I believe. Am I at a Red Sox game right now?
But really, I’d rather write about something that really inspires me. And though life, often fails to inspire me, this band certainly does.
The tone is hardcore but more so hardcore with a lot of sludge-y, industrial sounds as well.
I’d like to imagine this band formed at a room, where a hardcore/punk band and a sludge/metal band shared a practice place- both bands broke up, simultaneously, and the remaining members of both bands decided, then and there, to form a new one.
All I know is this band caught my ear, my attention. But, thankfully, not my contagious diseases.
And I’m aware that “similar items” is used as a marketing term. One that lures unsuspecting shoppers towards a “similar item.”
Like if you bought our lie about God, perhaps you’d be interested in our lie about our Government caring about you, too?
I have nothing to gain if you do check out this potent, powerful punk band. But I think you have more to lose by not doing so.
Because they’re really good. In fact, I doubt you’ll find many more similar items, meaning, music as good as this.
I’m pretty sure about that.
(Slimedog)
