The unstoppable force that Teri Gender Bender has something to say and you’ll probably want to hear it. The lead singer from Le Butcherettes has come a long way and now we can experience her new ideas.
After pairing up with Omar Rodríguez-López in two different projects: Kimono Kult (with the legendary John Frusciante) and Bosnian Rainbows she has returned to more familiar grounds and has released a 4 song EP with Le Butcherettes titled Cry Is For The Flies, a punk-rock collection of songs filled with heavy guitars, distorted vocals, in-your-face drums and of course, Teri’s distinct tone of rebellion.
The first cut ‘Burn The Scab’ is a repetitive and aggressive song with a constant organ that’s almost unbearable, however, it does what it is supposed to and that’s carry the song through a poignant melody and fierce lyrics that remind you over and over again that Teri “Finds it hard to articulate”. The second song ‘Demon Stuck In Your Eye’ comes as it was produced by Jack White himself and it’s not only because of the classic heavy guitar riff that the song is crafted on, or the high pitched pre-chorus, or even the perfectly designed chorus melody, but because it keeps true in it’s rock foundations: It is truly a rock song and I love it, with so many musicians attempting to recreate some old sound and filling recordings with excessive compression, distortion and overdrive, Teri has managed to keep punk free of absurdities and over-production and just make punk-rock music without much pretensions while keeping a modern ass-kicking sound. Same goes for the third cut of the EP ‘Your Weakness Gives Me Life’. ‘Blackhead’ sounds different from the rest, not because it is not punk: it still has the in-your-face attitude the whole production emanates, it still has the distorted vocals, the overly-present organ in the verse, the gritty drums… for me it sounds different because St. Vincent’s self-titled album changed the game for a lot of people, and clearly the production on this track is stamped with Annie’s influence and that’s awesome in my book.
Check out Cry Is For The Flies below, as well as Teri’s latest feature in Adonowsky’s Don’t try To Fool Me
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