So Pitted

What’s Hot In My House – March

Posted on by edwardlayland

Since the release of The Cult‘s largely awesome ‘Hidden City’ I have been streaming the shit out of it, the album having become my default option for pretty much any and every time of day. Even so, there has still been plenty of room for other aural delights, what with the stack of awesome new music http://www.alreadyheard.com have been making me review; twisting my arm until I give in and put fingers to keyboard. Then there’s all the interesting new releases outside of AH’s remit; 2016 shaping up to be a damn fine year for new music. However, given the subject matter of some of my recent posts I’ve also been doing more than a little memory lane, so check out the diverse selection of listening pleasures that have been riding my personal air waves of late….

The Mission
The Mish are a band I tend to listen to fairly regularly anyway, but one of the most recent things that I have written is a look at their 30 year career with a definitive top 10. As such, in the name of research I went trawling through their catalogue, agonising over what to include, so there’s been days when they were the only band ringing in my ears. Here’s a classic performance on British TV:


https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/30-years-of-the-mission/

Aztec Camera
I always had a bit of a soft spot for Roddy Frame when I was a kid, he came up with a handful of really good tunes, which have actually stood the test of time. I was reminded of AC while reading the tome that is ‘How Soon Is Now’, on the mavericks behind 80s indie, and was thus inspired to write about the vibrant Scottish scene which spawned so much of the music that sound tracked the UK during the 1980s, including Aztec Camera. Anyway, I tracked the greatest hits down on Deezer and was pleasantly surprised by the enduring quality of the songs, ‘Working in a Goldmine’ being a personal favourite as its a lesson to any budding songwriter in how to nail a good hook.


https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/postcards-from-glasgow/

Noise – Heck and So Pitted
The DIY ethic around the music business right now and the whole indie punk vibe afforded by the internet is leading to some really exciting new music. Seattle’s So Pitted are a recent discovery, their sound being really quite horribly awesome. They have an air of disquiet about their heavy bruising brand of alternative rock, soaked in flurries of feedback, and their debut album, ‘Neo’, makes for a brilliant but disconcerting listen. https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/so-pitted-neo-review/


On the opposite side of the Atlantic, but equally noisy, are the chaotic Heck. There is something refreshingly free about the wrecking ball sound of debut album ‘Instructions’ and I’ve had it on heavy rotation since giving it a 5/5 over at AH. http://alreadyheard.com/post/140796180606/album-review-heck-instructions

The Cult
Which brings me back to The Cult. I make no secret of the fact that this is my favourite band and have written about them a lot. Most recently I did a retrospective review of their supremely underrated self-titled album, as I believe that there are a number of seriously good tunes getting seriously overlooked. Check out ‘Gone’ here:


https://hardpresseded.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/the-cult-the-cult/

So Pitted – Neo Review

Posted on by edwardlayland

SoPitted_R4_DraftsSince Nirvana’s game changing mega stardom redefined alternative as the mainstream, most guitar based music has become somewhat stylised and, even in its most intense forms, there’s often more than the vaguest whiff of formula following. So, it is disconcertingly uncomfortable, but a welcome challenge, to happen across such an imperfect listen as the bruising So Pitted.

This quirky three piece from Seattle, who bonded over a love of mainstream alternative, are a loose combination of self taught musicians who swap instruments, take turns singing, play guitars through bass amps and basically flout all conventions to cook up an invigorating slice of sludgy rage. There’s an air of paranoia and disquiet to the band’s aesthetic that is captured in the angular rhythms and fuzzy guitars; ‘Neo’ boasting eleven powerful bursts of feedback fueled slop in the finest traditions of Sub Pop.

Album opener ‘Cat Scratch’ is all dirty disjointed riffing, clattering rhythms and drawled vocals, kinda like a hyper raw Mudhoney. ‘Pay Attention To Me’ is more urgent and is one of the more instant tracks, with just the vaguest hint of a hook, as the rudimentary bass line hurries along beneath the guitar slaughter. The jarring close to the track leads perfectly into the alarming riff of ‘Woe’ whose feedback tinged guitar lines are cutting and stark in compliment to the simplistic insistence of the vocal pattern, it’s horribly brilliant. This mechanical vocal technique appears on a few tracks, like the disjointed ‘Get Out of My Room’, which turns the intensity up to eleven, and the sinister ‘Feed Me’ with its waves of feedback tinged guitar bashing that wash over the listener.

‘Holding the Void’ has an angry urgency about it and a more indie feel to the guitars, though once again there’s some melody fighting for room in the ripping vocal. This is actually quite a versatile band and there are a number of influences on display, for instance, ‘No Nuke Country’ has a slight punky feel to its swirling rhythms and pounding riffage, while ‘The Sickness’ is very college radio with its the drawled vocal over the uptempo grungy thrashing.

To be honest, there’s not a bad track on Neo, everything works within the context, but it’s an intense listen with plenty of anger on display; ‘I’m Not Over It’ boasting heavy repetitive riffing and offering a rage filled vocal battering. ‘Rot In Hell’ is similarly upset as the throbbing hypnotic bass underscores the histrionic guitar lines. ‘Chop Down That Tree’ brings the album to a fitting end with two minutes of attacking riffs, attacking drums and attacking vocals that combine everything the band has to offer in a resounding finale.

Ok, So Pitted won’t be winning any awards for intricate technique or refined musicianship, but that is so not the point; what you get here is an intense display of noise filled abandon on these eleven cuts of raw emotion, which is precisely what good art should be about. Killer.
9/10

You can purchase Neo in various formats right here:
https://sopitted.bandcamp.com/