Big'N + Oxes - Split ep

Year: 2000

Label: Box Factory

You guys can all thank James Joyce of Beyond Failure blog fame for this one, as he provided me with the digital copy of this elusive record. It's a real doozy too.

Big'N have the first three tracks, and they're more of that Chicago deep dish noise rock, throbbing, repetitive bass, high gain minimal guitar lines, and muffled, distorted vocals. The type of music that relies as much on the spaces between notes to build tension as it does the actual release of tension once the note is delivered. It's 75% abrasive attacks, and 25% soothing lulls, all recorded with that super dry, drum-centric Steve Albini aesthetic. If you liked the Big'N previously posted, you'll dig this one. 

Oxes get all art/noise/punk on that ass, and when they're done it leaves a mark. The proceedings get much faster, messier, and piercing. Time signatures are thrown around with little regard for dance-abilty, vocals are delivered in sharp blasts, and the music rides on an ebullient wave of chaos. There are parts that can be traced back to their Baltimore brethren Universal Order Of Armageddon, the noisier parts of UOA...if they didn't have a bass player...and performed atop large black boxes...and tried to bum out the audience.

Essential release.

DL