Chicago and Minneapolis were the heralded Midwest cities when it came to noise rock in the ’80s and ’90s, but Decibel Hall of Fame inductees Die Kreuzen repped for nearby Milwaukee, which had its own fertile punk and post-hardcore scene. In that fine tradition, the Brew City offers up power trio Primitive Broadcast Service whose third album, Monsters, we’re streaming here. The six-tracker was recorded at the late Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio, which is noted for its excellent drum acoustics. It’s a perfect fit for PBS—J.D. Morgan (guitar/vocals), Andy Steffenhagen (bass), Bryan Dorn (drums)—who accentuate the rhythm section on Monsters and adorn it with Morgan’s skronky, trebly guitar (reminiscent of Albini’s own tension-laden style) and distorted, impassioned vocals. You can hear shades of Shellac and Unsane in the band’s tribal, repetitive rhythms and low-end explorations.
Monsters was produced by Primitive Broadcast Service and Vin Smith. Recording was done at Electrical Audio by Shane Hochstetler and Jon San Paolo. Additional recording, engineering and mixing was performed by Vin Smith at Wreckage Industries. Tad Doyle (of Tad fame) did the mastering at Witch Ape Studio/Skyway Audio. It’s set for release on vinyl and digitally on June 4 via Seismic Wave Entertainment Records. Place your preorder here.
Morgan gave us the lowdown on how the songs on Monsters came together:
“These songs have had a lot endurance for us. There is a toughness to them, a material strength they maybe didn’t have when we first wrote them right after our second album, Colors for Chameleons. The main focus at the beginning was to have a more complete, ambient drum sound on this third album, so we took the songs to Electrical Audio in Chicago and tracked 47 minutes of music in two days, then went on a series of mini-tours.
With us during this time was a marriage, health issues, Kia boys, addictions and divorce—monsters everywhere, big and small (and real enough that the Monsters title stuck). We lost a year, came apart, reformed and tightened the focus to these six tracks. The initial inspirations are still there in all of their power, and so is the music, but it feels to me as though it has evolved into something stronger. . . and there are strange sounds seeping out of the AC generators that just might be to be holding it all together. By the end, nothing is normal, and who really wants that anyway?”
The post Full Album Stream: Primitive Broadcast Service –<em>Monsters</em> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.