(HoZac, 2011)
This is the third straight record I've reviewed in the past week that has absolutely no information about the band or its music presented within on the sleeve, but I'm done bitching about it and am just going to start making shit up instead. Black Bug are an anonymous collective of Martians and child molesters that release morse-code manifestos bi-monthly ranting about low-quality smartphone ROMs, and every once in a while they make claustrophobic, minimal electro-noise that HoZac compares to Cabaret Voltaire and Catatonic Youth. While their self-titled debut LP on FDH Records had way too many songs and occasionally lapsed into bits of monotonous noise for noise's sake and too-cutesy new wave silliness, the three tracks on this 7" possess a more malevolent, singular vibe, channelling criminally underrated late 70s LA sci-fi synth punks the Screamers if they'd formed in like 1985 and were more influenced by New Romantic pop and bad 80s action movie soundtracks than Suicide or the Ramones.
Opening track "Shard Of Glass" sports a choppy rhythm bed and a massive, guttural synth riff that's tougher and more memorable than any guitar-based rock n' roll song I've heard in recent months. Next up is "Machine," which makes the Screamers connection more explicit, but it subtracts KK Barrett's violent punk drumming in favor of proudly phony computerized beats and cheapo Casio plinks and plonks. Flipside "Police Helicopter" weaves a synthetic cowbell pulse into a cold, slightly frightening melody that never stops, and in contrast to the A side, which features strangulated vocals under blankets of effects that bring to mind John Lydon on early Public Image Limited records, the only voice you hear is a disembodied robot moaning "THEY ALL LOOK LIKE RATS FROM UP HERE!" Black Bug might seem scary and unearthly, but these songs are oddly danceable, much like early 90s goth and industrial was danceable, better suited for the kind of moves you'd bust out in a darkened corner far away from the DJ booth.
All in all, this might be the best 7" HoZac has put out all year, and it would sound more at home on the soundtrack of the planned gritty reboot of Suspiria than whatever z-grade nu-metal garbage or hipster pop the producers are probably using. Curiosity got the better of me, and it turns out Black Bug are two guys and a girl from Sweden, not outer space, and haven't been listed on any sex offender registries that I can locate. That's way less interesting than the backstory I invented, so maybe there's something to be said for maintaining the air of mystery. Either way, you kinda need to buy this like yesterday!
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