Scraper
Self-Titled EP
Drag City
Street: 07.16
Scraper = The Spits + Mayyors
The heavy chainsaw guitars—emitting chord changes at a rate The Ramones might approve of—caught my attention last. They sit behind and complement the faux-British vocals, growled in a mild No Talk-style, with a vocal chord-callousing intensity that guitars can’t, and shouldn’t, match. The garage-level recording quality makes the snare drum a tinny pop and gives the cymbal crashes a touch of distortion that blankets the tracks, filling any empty space with a satisfying tickle of white noise. The EP climaxes with “Electric Hairpiece.” The lyrics boggle my mind with unexplainable phrases I wish I’d come up with—like “Your girlfriend is a cabbage,” and “What do you want? Electric Hairpiece!” The final track “Time,” gives you three and a half minutes of cleaner guitar and harmonies, perfect for catching your breath, letting your heart decelerate and re-gathering your thoughts. –Steve Richardson