The Worthless Animals’ only release, currently, is a small four track collection titled A Very Worthless Demo, which only came out this July of 2015. The album is incredibly lo-fi (the tracks all seem to only play through the left channel, which is funny), but gives you a great idea of the sound and vibe the band is going for.
My immediate reaction to these guys was that they’re almost like Tweez-era Slint with a whole lot more Hardcore. Guitars have a very dissonant, bent, and distorted sound that drone in much the same way Tweez does. On top of this, the tempos will typically kind of chug along as well, but will occasionally break into these speedy d-beats, keeping the energy alive. The lead singer, “Dad”, belts out mild growls of lyrics that, at times, seem like the ramblings of a mad man more than anything else. It’s crazy.
Beyond all this, the band have a certain technical facet to their music that almost approaches Math Rock at times. Formats will change and guitars will sometimes ramble and meander. Occasionally things will almost sound like a slowed down Hardcore song, like they’re stretching these typically hyper speed songs into a more scrutinized, meticulous formation that’s really different and cool to hear.
Their live performance is all kinds of intense as Dad rolls on the floor, jumps into the audience, and wraps mic cables all over his head. The band’s obvious musical talent also comes across beautifully live as everything seems to fit right in place, and everyone is grooving in tune with one another. It’s always great when a band’s live performance outshines their recordings.
I can’t really stress enough that these guys are worth checking out. Our Austin scene seems to have lost its Punk a bit in recent years, but there are a few bands that still bring really cool shit to the table, and Worthless Animals are entirely representative of this. If you happen to be in my neck of the woods, go seem them live, otherwise check this shit out and anxiously wait, like me, for more releases to come.
HOLY FUCK THIS IS MY BAND!
