Been sitting on this one far too long, just been out of sorts for about a week. A handful of possibilities for that I suppose, melancholy is what you might call it, the end result is laziness. Thought about just posting the Bandcamp addy, and letting the two guys who comment around here, do whatever they wanted with it, but this shit is too good for laziness. In fact going to the Bandcamp page myself and, taking in the music and words again tonight, brought me out of my funk for just long enough.
Well my bud Leo and his partner in crime Shaun of the felonious monster that is Street Sects are up to no good again with part 2 of 5 of the "GENTRIFICATION: A SERIAL ALBUM" (which will eventually be released as a boxed set). Took a good hard look at part one a while back in the The Morning After The Night We Raped Death 7" and we also poured boiling lead into our ears with a live tune after that. I don't know if I need to do the song and dance again about how great these guys are, because they picked up right where they left off with this newest release. I asked Leo to give me his take on it and he delivered like a true word-smith,
"Broken Windows, Sunken Ceilings is a record about paranoia and anxiety taken to their furthest extremes, when fear is no longer a feeling but rather a physical presence. A sick and obsessive presence, one that follows you around tirelessly, breathing down your neck in broad daylight and looming over you while you sleep, aroused and erect with predatory desire. The title is a riff on the "broken windows theory" which was introduced in 1982 and later used to justify excessive policing, randomized street harassment, and unabashed profiling. It used fear as a method of order, an ever present shadow of imposed civility, but instead it only reinforced the resentment for authority already deeply embedded in the under privileged and working class. When fear is a constant, its edge becomes dulled and its purpose becomes easier to ignore. When it becomes obsolete, the urges that propel criminal behavior are magnified. Sexual frustrations become all consuming and violence becomes a form of sustenance, of nourishment, a way to fill the holes. These holes exist in our stomachs, in our hearts, and in the ceilings hanging above ruined mattresses, half empty high school homerooms, and endless rows of cots lined wall to wall with the homeless and the defeated. Broken Windows, Sunken Ceilings is about realizing that every day we grow older, the ceiling hangs lower, and the walls of the world contract further."
So what does all that mean? In my opinion, this shit is relentless, like a bunch of hyenas tearing apart a carcass, chunks of flesh, shattered bone, unnaturally stretched sinew. I see blood everywhere. All three compositions put you on the edge of your seat or better yet the edge of a cliff, with that uneasy feeling in your stomach...in the end you fall over the edge. Torturous bliss. I don't have a favorite, it's like having to choose who's going to die, but as with the last single, the first two songs are on the vinyl, the last is digital only. On the previous too posts I talked about Leo mostly, who is the words and voice, and I've gotten to know him a little bit virtually, but I didn't know too much about Shaun, who is some kind of necromancer when it come to creating music...I asked Leo to give me his take on the man...
"The other half of Street Sects is Shaun Ringsmuth, and he's the composer/producer/musical genius in the group. He basically locks himself in a room for hours at a time, completely loses his mind for a while (not joking), and these horrifically incredible pieces of music come out. He will send me parts of songs, or nearly completed songs, and we will go back and forth talking about them, deciding what's best for the particular song, and all the while he's making changes and perfecting the work. I've been working with guy for over ten years in various projects, and I'm still always blown away every time he finishes a new piece of music. It's really incredible, and I wouldn't want to be working with anyone else, at least not on a project as serious and personal as Street Sects. I do the vocals, as you know, as well as the words, art direction and design stuff. Also mixing duties, though that is likely going to become more of a cooperative effort. But the music... that's all Shaun."
Embedded below is the Bandcamp link, for your listening pleasure, perfect if you're not overly curious or perhaps are just lazy. Do yourself a favor though and go directly to their Bandcamp page and while you're head gets cracked open to the music, take it one step further and read the lyrics to the tunes, and that fucking short story of sorts, surely will get you thinking. http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=83169059/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/
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