Dig ‘in: Fust, ODDLY, Horsegirl
Check out what the No Wristbands team is listening to and what’s in our show calendars this month on our latest Dig ‘in.
INCOMING
Fust - Big Ugly (Dear Life Records LP)
The era we exist in now with the prevalence of social media has a lot of negatives, really more negatives than positives, but one positive of building these online communities/echo chambers is the occasional band/musician that makes it onto your radar. Fust is my most recent discovery via the aforementioned means. Hailing from Durham, North Carolina, Fust was initially the brainchild of Aaron Dowdy before becoming a full fledged alt-country powerhouse over the past 8 years. Their newest album Big Ugly tells stories about life in run-down small towns, like Pineville, West Virginia—where Dowdy’s grandma grew up—which itself is close to the Big Ugly Creek; the inspiration for the record title. These are brilliantly constructed tales of life in small, seemingly forgotten towns. The album opens up with the one-two alt-county blast of lead single “Spangled” with its searing fuzzed-out guitar intro, pared perfectly with Dowdy’s twangy vocals, followed by “Gateleg” with its lap steel and fiddle-led stomp. “Gateleg” sounds like an alt-country War on Drugs song, and I mean that as a huge compliment. This isn’t an album of someone judging the malaise that has befallen small towns in Appalachia, but a love letter to what once was and what could one day potentially be again. I’m already excited to see what their live set is like. Luckily for us, they will be playing The Hideout on Wednesday, April 9th with Merce Lemon. -Mark Joyner
ODDLY - Swerve (Damnably LP)
ODDLY’s embrace of eclecticism serves them well on their debut album. The Kyoto band dip their toes into a myriad of indie styles yet end up establishing their own identity. Songwriters Naoko Yutani and Tomoyuki Watanabe offer up contrasting vocals that provide both softness and bite. Their coupling on “Zero” and “Easy Mark” inhabit a territory previously mined by outfits like Sorry and Water From Your Eyes. “Alligator” and “Artificial” have a punkish fervor, brushed with distortion and snarl. Watanabe and Yutani come together to harmonize on “Lozenges,” a bittersweet pop number about trying to outrun inevitable circumstances. Swerves marks a path full of exploration for ODDLY; it’s a circuitous journey with a destination still to be determined. -Bruce Novak
Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On (Matador Records LP)
Horsegirl buries the key to their new album, Phonetics On and On, late in the track list, in “Information Content”: “Ooh-hoo, one step for the blatant rhyme / I tread into the vacant time, it’s due / Ooh-hoo, tick-tock on a broken line / You’ll wait until you hear a voice come through / Ooh-hoo, dead air and the humming’s high…” adding later, “I talk in tones.”
Three years after the then-teenage trio of Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece bounded out of Chicago with their raucous indie-rock debut, Versions of Modern Romance, Horsegirl have slowed their pace a bit to look around and contemplate the possibilities. Recorded under the aegis of producer Cate LeBon, the new songs live in the minimalist aesthetic realm of the Velvet Underground, Raincoats, Yo La Tengo, and Pavement. But as with those groups, the restraint is deceptive. Subtle textures (tap-tap-tapping percussion, short, fuzzy guitar breaks, smidgens of synthesizer) “tread into the vacant time” of the simply structured, childlike melodies and rhythms: playful interjections into a murmured conversation.
Sing-song choruses of “oohs” and “doh doh dohs” abound. The phonetic repetitions serve as ellipses, leaving space for the listener to complete the meaning. Lengthy instrumental intros and outros extend the story, evoking ambles down wintry streets, musing, circling for emphasis. The opener, “Where’d You Go?” weaves a jaunty, Feelies-like riff with blooming strands of noise. The quick-march “2468" repeats the chant, “They walk in twos / Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.” “Julie” sombrely intones, “Julie / Da, da, da, da / Julie / I wish I could tell you what you want,” against a mesmerizing drone spiked with little guitar screeches—“brtz!“—like a sharp elbow in the ribs. The more conventionally structured “Well I Know You’re Shy” and “I Can’t Stand to See You” emerge as lively surprises. This is just the beginning of the conversation. -Tina Woelke
UPCOMING
Bummer Camp
Where: Cole’s Bar / Directions
When: March 20, 9:00 PM
Bummer Camp began as the solo bedroom project for Queens resident Eli Frank. Frank is also the lead guitarist for Asbury Park’s power pop outfit Teenage Halloween. In recent years during that band’s downtime, Frank would frequently immerse himself in writing songs for Bummer Camp, usually starting out on acoustic guitar. For his latest record, Stuck In A Dream released last month via Trash Casual, he partnered with Teenage Halloween drummer Peter Gargano and upped the sonic quotient. Leaning into what Frank terms grunge-gaze, the duo delivers a sound that fluctuates between fuzzed-out textures and blissful interludes. For their live performances, they’ve added fellow Teenage Halloween bandmate, Luk Henderiks, and Brett Bivona, who’s previously partnered with Frank in Winnebago Vacation. -Bruce Novak
Chuck Ragan
Where: City Winery / Directions
When: March 28, 7:30 PM
Chuck Ragan is probably most well-known as the leader of punk rock band Hot Water Music from Gainesville, FL. They were in their prime from around 1995 thru 2005, with various reunions since then. But Ragan’s been playing shows on the road with his acoustic guitar on & off for the past 20 years. His most recent solo record, Love and Lore, was released last October and is his first in ten years. With his road-weary voice, his guitar and maybe an accomplice or two, these shows emphasize the intimate vulnerability of Ragan’s solo catalogue. Most of his subject matter centers on relationships—with others, with the road and with the struggle within himself. City Winery will provide a lovely setting for Ragan to share these heartfelt songs. The fabulous Cory Branan will open, along with Ernie Hendrickson. -Tom Novak
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
Where: Fitzgerald’s / Directions
When: March 16, 8:00 PM
When River Shook broke the news in January that the Disarmers would be playing their final tour before disbanding at the end of June, it capped an eventful decade of existence for the group. One in which Shook entered sobriety, emerged as non-binary (hence the name change to River), and last month proposed onstage to bandmate Blake Tallent aboard the Outlaw Country Cruise. Over four albums, Shook and the Disarmers delivered no holds barred alt-country that strived for inclusivity in a musical genre not typically known for its progressive politics. On the title track of Revelations, the band’s final album released in 2024, Shook makes it crystal clear on where their head is at by revealing: “I been in the state that I’m in since the day of my birth / New beginnin’s I’m done listenin’ / When the old guard tells me what my word is worth.” Shook did make a detour a couple of years ago when they formed the group Mightmare that took its inspiration from the ’90s queer indie music culture and released their Cruel Liars record on Kill Rock Stars label. But other than revealing that a new project is in the works for which they have starting writing songs for, Shook didn’t offer much further detail beyond pursuing some “wild ideas.” Nonetheless, count me in as all ears. -Bruce Novak
UNCOVERED
Scrawl - Plus, Also, Too (No Other Records / Rough Trade LP)
Scrawl released a series of recordings in the ’80s and ’90s that merit special attention. For this piece I’m focusing on their 1987 debut that helped lay groundwork for the impeding Riot Grrrl movement. That connection was affirmed when Scrawl were invited to play the International Pop Underground Festival held in Olympia, Washington in the fall of 1991, which was considered the landmark event for the nascent Riot Grrrl scene.
The Columbus, Ohio trio of Marcy Mays (vocals, guitar), Sue Harshe (bass, vocals) and Carolyn O’Leary (drums) fittingly recorded Plus, Also, Too in the basement of a friend’s house, having to monitor the volume levels so as to not unduly disturb the friend’s parents who were at home upstairs. One can’t help wonder what their expressions were like if they were in earshot when the band recorded “Slut.” “Where’s my gratification,” demands May in turning the slur into an anthem of empowerment. Years later, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill would do the same by scrawling the word on her torso in lipstick for some of the band’s performances. “Great American Pastime” lambastes conspicuous consumption and shop ’til you drop mentality. The character in “Gutterball” exudes female empowerment, “bringing her fists down” and “meaning what she says.” The album winds down with the melancholic “Afterthought,” as Mays pleads for more white noise to drown out the discouraging sounds coming from mass media. I was heartened to discover that Mays and Harshe remain fast friends to this day, and that they have been performing near annual reunion shows in Columbus with new drummer Jovan Karcic (Gaunt). Sisterhood is such a powerful thing. -Bruce Novak
We recommend listening along over at our Spotify page. Here’s this week’s content: