I don't like every punk band I hear and I can't exactly describe why I like one and not another. Bitter Fruit fills a void for me I haven't had an entry in for a long, long time. The sound is grungy and dark, harboring anger with a sense of humor. The artwork of member Jack Bradley immediately drew me in. The use of brilliant colors on images of violence, horror and grossness is intriguing and attention getting. The band's sound echos these images in capturing both the angst and the luminescence of life.
While I find genre labels limiting and misleading most of the time, I do think they are necessary and helpful in guiding people to discover music they would like. Bitter Fruit from Oakland, California are definitely worth discovering while tricky to label. The most common genre labels used to describe them are queercore, Deathrock and Punk. I have also read comparisons to the band Christian Death and artist Andi Sexgang. Personally I was immediately reminded of 45 Grave when I heard them, especially the song Saddlesore. One other band that came to mind while listening to Bitter Fruit was Frightwig. The main difference between these older groups and Bitter Fruit is the ease of making out the lyrics on the older bands records while Bitter Fruit is a real struggle. I bought the album download rather than a physical CD which I hope contains lyrics. If it does, that and the artwork would make it far preferable to the download.
1. My Secret Thoughts: Mosh pit madness - the real deal, not the running around like a silly bloke, but a kick ass assault on anyone nearby - the more bruises the more fun
2. Pathetic Narcissus: dark and menacing, head bowed and thrashing from side to side
3. Serial: self sacrificing dance floor anarchy
4. Flowers: Bass guitar takes lead and encourages a satanic version of hopscotch
5. Poor Pee: Goth tinged spiral into total abandon
6. Rainbow:
Meet me in the clouds, we can lap up the Sky. gentrify or be marginalized. you can buy a boy or do corporate pride or suck dick and survive. Just follow the Rainbow.
Don't rock the boat! I don't want to belong to a demographic of political pawns. In your Castro coffin made of glass, disappear behind that mask.
Just Follow the Rainbow.
8. Daydreaming: driving in a straight line to nowhere
9. Kill Me: Self destructive taunting - one of the most energizing songs on the record, this one should be fantastic to experience live!
10. Saddlesore: starts out slow like Insurance from God by 45 Grave - then breaks into mega mayhem and insanity inducing craziness. Nothing like ending the album with the two strongest songs and leave me wanting more!
Members:
Jack Bradley - Bass and Vocals
David Montoya - Guitar
Yoko O.K.- Guitar and Vocals
This band is AMAZING. btw if you weren't aware, Kill Me is a cover of a song by the Wasp Women who were a subversive drag troupe from the early 80's in LA. Here's a clip of them performing the song as a slightly fictionalized version of themselves in a diy Movie called "Whatever Happened to Susan Jane"! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmdA05LrfLU
ReplyDeleteNice! I have their original "Kill Me" from a Bay Area Retrograde Compilation cd. Had not seen the video - most excellent. Thanks for sharing - and for being my first comment maker.
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