Carquake – Shit’s Fucked

Carquake – Shit’s Fucked – EP Review

More than five years ago, when I started listening to a band called Lounge Act Jam, I knew I was listening to something severely special in the music Alan Yang was making.  He’d go on to make more of it, which only confirmed I was right, and then went on to make the magic happen under a different name, calling it Repeatedive.  And now here we are, with the man going by the name of Carquake for this latest offering.  The guy changes band names more frequently than I change my underwear, but what makes it even more fun is the fact that he like, never says a word about it, never says ‘hey man, I’ve got more music for ya, and I’m calling it ______ this time around’ to draw attention to what he’s up to – I usually just get a link, some artwork, and have to rely on my own instincts to push play and see what’s up.  Then I hear what’s going on, and something clicks in me to go, ‘wait a second – this is Alan again, isn’t it?’  So, in a nutshell, my relationship with Yang is practically nonexistent beyond the music, and I’d reckon we’re both okay with that…we approach our separate crafts from the same angle…keep your head down and do the work.  We don’t want to go unnoticed in what we do, but we’re not in it for the accolades either.

Shit’s Fucked.  He ain’t wrong about that.  I assume that he’s talking about the state of the world more-so than the state of his music, but admittedly, it could apply to either, or both.  Is everyone out there gonna ‘get’ the music he makes or a record like this?  Fuck no!  And I’m sure that’s just the way he wants it.  As I listened to “Parasite” open up this new EP from Carquake, a project that appears to have been rocking for at least a couple years now, I couldn’t shake that feeling that what I was hearing was about as close as I remember feeling to hearing Bleach by Nirvana for the very first time, back in my day.  Did everyone out there get the music on that album?  Also fuck no!  Retroactively perhaps…at least as far as the masses were concerned, but the underground scene understood what was going on.  So too should be the case for what Carquake has created on “Parasite” as well – this has that same brutally raw and primal animosity that made Bleach such a wildly ALIVE record to listen to, even if it was those same ingredients that would scare the living daylights outta the mainstream at the very same time.  If there’s anything to knock against a track like “Parasite,” it’s simply the fact that it does follow the Nirvana script very closely, to the point where you’d know where the chord changes and screams are gonna occur like you’d already heard the song before, because in a way, you kinda have.  That being said however, you can’t dismiss the savagely well-executed way that Carquake tackles this kind of primitive roar on their opening track – everything about “Parasite” should freakin’ pique your curiosity and have you smashing the furniture in your house into the walls.  Some of the screams are so above and beyond, that Carquake achieves something amazing…like they sound like the most intense parts of “Come To Daddy” by Aphex Twin, without the advantage of digital enhancements.  The gripping level of raw power on display in this first impression of Carquake ain’t something you’re gonna forget anytime soon, and I’m fucking HERE. FOR. IT.  I would go see this LIVE from the front row if I ever had the opportunity, because goddamn, you don’t often come across music this committed to the moment of maximizing & commanding the chaos.

While the intensity is still completely intact, to their credit, Carquake immediately starts to shift their sound away from those obvious early-Nirvana comparisons, to a more ferocious brand of Punk on the following track, “9:30.”  No joke folks, they play this music with such physicality that it’s like you have to legitimately wonder if someone got HURT in the process of recording, you know what I mean?  I’m at least assuming that it would take the band a couple days to recover after putting so much into what they do…and I’ll be damned if that isn’t what gets you so incredibly amped-up and EXCITED by what you hear.  “9:30” still retains enough of a post-Grunge vibe to it, while still being completely rooted in a furious Punk style, with just a tiny bit of Hardcore-Funk in the melody, like Carquake was an example of taking something like the early work of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, putting that sound in a bottle of Coke with some Mentos, and shaking it up to its inevitable explosion.  Sound good or what?  You into that?  I sure hope you are, because I know I sure as hell am.  I so desperately look for raw sound like this that is going to spark that special feeling of wanting to jump off the kitchen table for no reason, or randomly throw a chair across the room, or start a mosh pit of one on my own…and “9:30” does that for me.  Say what you want about the actual music itself, which I can guarantee you is probably better played than most listeners would give it credit for – it’s the feeling you get from hearing such reckless abandon that literally gets your molecules in a rampage, and transforms you into your own version of The Incredible Hulk when you hear something like what Carquake is creating.  Rarely are you ever going to hear a band so successfully get that elusive raw, electric, live-wire vibe onto a record, but Shit’s Fucked does it, 100%.

As “Old” begins, it’s obviously clear they’re about to go with the lighter-up baby-maker song that’s rooted in sincerity and sensitivity…wait a second…maybe hold that thought for a moment – who the fuck is screaming at me, and why?  I thought we were doing the ballad thing, no?  Alright…all kidding aside…it’d clearly be INSANE to think this band was about to go the mellow route on ya, and it doesn’t take too long before Carquake erupts and the façade burns out as the music heats up.  Personally, I’m all about shit like this…the unpredictable edge in their music reminds me a ton of how bands like Superchunk weren’t afraid to color outside of the lines and made an entire career out of making perfectly imperfect music.  So don’t get it twisted, I wasn’t fooled for a second by the gentle melodic start to a song like “Old” – I know it’s only a matter of time before Carquake does what Carquake is gonna do, and they certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard.  They were right on time with the yelling and screaming…but it’s also not lost on me that there actually IS a little melody under the surface of such unabashed brutality too.  When the music eventually kicks into gear, “Old” simply gets even better – but to be truthful, I was already enticed by the vocals being left so bare-assed on their own with just a guitar to support’em.  It’s funny to me as well, in the sense that like, I mean…”Old” is arguably the most accessible track of the first three you’ll hear on the Shit’s Fucked EP, and this would STILL send most folks running for the fucking hills.  It’s what makes the term ‘accessibility’ such a fun and malleable word to use – because it’s true, “Old” is likely going to appeal to at least a few more people than the in-your-face sounds of “Parasite” or “9:30” – I’m positive of that.  But if we’re talking about a 1% or 2% increase, then even though it’s technically more ‘accessible’ it still really ain’t at all, you feel me?  I don’t want to damage the street cred of these punkers in Carquake, so don’t get me wrong, “Old” still ain’t music for your momma or the masses – they retain their gritty-ass raw sound completely, even if I’m still going to put my lighter in the air for this song when I see the band play live.  They’ll know it’s me, and that’s fine.

“Stay Single” actually reaches back even more for a throwback vibe than any of the preceding songs have so far, more towards the vibe you’d expect to find in something like Fear, but with a somewhat uplifting energy to the melody in the hooks that’s almost more along the lines of something you’d find in the Rolling Stones, The Monkees, or The Beatles at their wildest, times ten.  So like…it’s a good mix of styles and sounds that span a range of time to land all the way here in the present with their inspiration intact.  It takes less than ten seconds for the rumble of “Stay Single” to take shape, and from there, you’ll hear that steady built towards the atomic delivery of the chorus.  Production-wise, we’re talkin’ about stuff that sounds about as appealing as the catalog of Chris Sievey or his band The Freshies – so no, I don’t expect that the average everyday listener is gonna be able to hang with just how raw Carquake is willing to get with their music – but I can!  And I WILL, too…because honestly, I fucking love what I hear on this EP, and feel like this set of five songs has more LIFE in its veins than just about everything else I’ve heard in the past ten years.  Love it or hate it, pass or fail, for better or worse, Carquake has once again proven that you can topple polished production with pure passion, and that untamed raw energy has an addictive allure of its own that can’t help but to get our attention.  I make no illusions about something like Carquake’s music being an acquired taste of sorts, but hopefully you are the kind of person that’s acquired it, because I’d hate for you to be so sheltered and wrong instead.

Finishing things off with “Salem, OR” – are we supposed to believe the quaint beginning is going to lead Carquake into softer terrain this time, or expect that we’ll be fooled like they did with “Old” earlier on?  I mean…if I was a betting man, which I’m not for the record, I’d probably assume that the band is gonna dirty up “Salem, OR” soon enough…but while it’s hardly what you’d likely call ‘clean’ – it never does end up rampaging into the previous Punk energy you’ve endured to get to this point on the EP.  Instead, they adopt a more, last-call-at-the-bar type feel for this final track on Shit’s Fucked, more akin to something you’d find in the music of The Most Beautiful Losers and their jangly-backwoods style of punkassery.  It’s fun…Carquake is keepin’ it loose for the ending of this record, and it still works for me, even it’s not quite instilling the same level of excitement that the four tracks before it creates.  “Salem, OR” has that ‘let’s haul out a guitar’ around the fire type of vibe to it, where the drunken crowd surrounding the flames just start singing without really worrying about whether or not the neighbors are listening or if the cops are gonna come.  There’s a youthful spirit to it…one that is proud to just make music for the sake of making music and nothing more…rebellious, but without reason.  I’m cool with it.  I’d be the first to tell ya that the main meat of this EP comes from its first four songs and that “Salem, OR” practically plays like a complete afterthought, but it’s still plenty amusing & equally entertaining on a similar level.  Heck, the next time you drain yourself a twelve-pack of longnecks, you might even end up singing this song as you head towards the back of your pickup truck to sleep it off underneath the stars.  Beautiful.

Find out more about Carquake at Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089989990568

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