So I just moved into a new apartment, and my big idea was that I was going to not have internet. Sounds harmless enough, but everyone I’ve told so far has reacted about how I imagine they will when I break the news about my face tat. I thought I would get a lot more stuff done without the internet distracting me all the time; so far I’ve been snacking more and reading old journals from like five years ago. Tonight I said fuck it and logged into some unprotected network that is probably d/ling all my bank account info as we speak, but I’m still glad I did it, ‘cuz while surfing I stumbled on this dope new Beth Israel EP.
You may remember Austin, TX’s Beth Israel from their 2014 full-length Dental Denial, an album (and album title) still blowing minds a full year later. 2015’s The Loaner promises to go even harder in the paint. Ideas flow endlessly out of this EP faster than clowns from a clown-car, but it’s no laughing matter - Beth Israel’s “tracks” range from pensive and eerily poignant to manic and riffy, with “Love” leaning strongly towards the latter. The EP’s component songs are Wire-esque in brevity, and at a hearty two minutes “Love” clocks in as one of the EP’s longer cuts. Held in orbit only by a cheap drum machine, mic, and guitar (along with creative use of a 4-track recorder), it uses each of these to full advantage in creating a short but always sweet opus.
BI worries less about the fidelity of the recording and more about the content. Inverting the common obligation to record each subsequent release in ever-higher quality, Loaner is a delightful step backwards in fidelity. Throughout the EP, BI looks for ways to détourn their own equipment, their own songwriting process, which takes their sound exciting in new directions.
Proof can be found in the punk pudding embedded below, and if you need more than just a taste, the Dull Tools Bandcamp page has the EP streamable in full.
• Beth Israel: https://soundcloud.com/beth-israel
• Dull Tools: https://dulltools.bandcamp.com
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