Drunkdriver - "Born Pregnant" LP - Parts Unknown Records
Drunkdriver / Mattin – “List of Profound Insecurities” 12-inch (Side B) MP3/download
DOWNLOAD Born Pregnant, by Drunkdriver, HERE
As a music critic I do a lot of ignoring, but if you mangle modern hardcore (or metal, for that matter) in the just the right way you’ll be in my heart forever.
Drunkdriver made my short-list with a self-titled effort that was sent to me in 2010. Apparently, however, the self-titled effort I loved so much, slated to be released on Load Records at the time, was kaibosh’d like a mo-fo because of sexual-assault allegations against Drunkdriver’s Jeremy Villalobos. I’m still processing the information, to tell you the truth. This could get ugly. I even wrote a piece on Drunkdriver for Signal To Noise Magazine. Wish someone would have gone door-to-door with this information (The People wanna know!).
It all adds up to a sad state of affairs for one reason: I fuckin’ DIG this band. Born Pregnant, a seldom-heard document nee 2008 on Parts Unknown Records, is fascinating for several reasons, the first of which being its approach to vocals, far removed from the all-out screeching of the self-titled effort. The singer talks, yells, moans, screams — yes — but this is a cleaner, less gritty cup of coffee, during which lyrics can be understood and tone discerned. Sort of.
The spiraling-out-of-control instrumentals remain. They represent the true appeal of Drunkdriver in all its misshapen, sprawling, odious glory. Guitar tuned and prep’d to pack the ultimate distortion + loud = DEATH punch, Ddriver’s six stringer absolutely shatters any notion that two guitarists are needed in the field of full-throttle, post-pigfuck warfare. Perhaps even more impressive are the drums, opportunistic almost to a fault and super-charged to boldly go where no blow-fueled drummer has ever gone before. Das Oath, Racebannon, Usurp Synapse, Assfactor 4, Dead At 24, Tinsel Teeth, Le Joshua, The Pope, The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, Sinaloa, Fields Of Shit, Victim’s Family, Tora! Tora! Torrance!, Daniel Striped Tiger, Indian, Snack Truck, The WPP, Get Fucked, Combatwoundedveteran, Mikaela’s Fiend: Yes, it’s that good.
And if you’re gonna go to war, an entire LP side is much more manageable than a paltry 7-inch slab of wax real estate. Drunkdriver know this, and take advantage of every minute. No goofy between-song hijinx, no fat to trim, no belly to viciously pinch; this is lean, mean, Sheen punk-rock that blasts out into the atmosphere like the cartridge of a beanbag shotgun and burrows into every fleshy orifice it can find. It’s so distorted you’ll beg for clarity, yet the razor-edges only serve to smooth the overall product, a speaker blowout often the only clue to the direction the music is taking.
This is what you (don’t) pay me for, right? So trust the experts and invest in some Drunkdriver (defunct as they may be). I wouldn’t want to have to call the authorities.
