{"id":26687,"date":"2017-04-12T12:13:43","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T11:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=26687"},"modified":"2017-04-12T18:03:53","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T17:03:53","slug":"bitches-brood-boss-hog-resurface-with-a-snarling-nightmare-vision-of-impending-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2017\/04\/bitches-brood-boss-hog-resurface-with-a-snarling-nightmare-vision-of-impending-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"BITCHES’ BROOD – Boss Hog Resurface With A Snarling, Nightmare Vision Of Imminent Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent quite a long time in the company of\u00a0Brood X<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0now and it’s my pleasure to tell you it never gets old.<\/h4>\n

Coolly referencing their lengthy hiatus – the\u00a0album is named after a\u00a0cicada that resurfaces every 17 years – it’s\u00a0a record that respects Boss Hog’s\u00a0history but packs\u00a0a few surprises as well.<\/h4>\n

The glacial funk of 2000 predecessor Whiteout<\/em><\/strong> is largely missing, replaced by a heavier more aggressive punk sound, reminiscent of their early records.<\/p>\n

Dripping with bitter satire and black humour, it’s shot through with images of imminent disaster and explosive drama.<\/p>\n

Album opener Billy, <\/em><\/strong>cited by Cristina Fernandez<\/strong> and Jon Spencer<\/strong> as a personal favourite in their recent EP interview<\/a>, is a high-tension tightrope walk of a song.<\/p>\n

Cristina howls like an incantatory high priestess as she narrates the tale of a boy “on the edge”<\/em>, on the “brink of destruction”\u00a0<\/em>about to burst into flames.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite a start, Jon\u2019s shrieking licks\u00a0counterbalanced by ascending piano and organ riffs courtesy of Mickey Finn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Next up is Black Eyes<\/em><\/strong>, where Cristina seeks to block out the world in the company of a boy “who can make me forget”.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jon\u2019s guitar\u00a0plays a call and response with Cristina\u2019s vocal and there\u2019s thunderous stick-work from Hollis Queens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spacey \u201860s keys herald the start of Ground Control<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 one of several songs given a new resonance on the light of the new man in the White House\u00a0\u2013 as Cristina sings of only hearing bad news on the radio.<\/p>\n

The nihilistic, apocalyptic feel of song is encapsulated in the final verse \u2013 \u201cNo civilisation\/Woke up in a pile of ashes\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The dark mood continues on Shh Shh Shh<\/em><\/strong> which, despite its\u00a0tongue-in-cheek Scooby Doo-style video (below), paints a pretty bleak portrait.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve got a lot on my plate”, <\/em>Cristina sings with increasing panic, as it becomes clear that something bad is going down.<\/p>\n

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Picture by Toon Aerts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rooted by Jens Jurgensen<\/strong>\u2019s bone-shaking\u00a0bass, Signal <\/strong>is a driving blast of dirty blues-funk, while Rodeo\u00a0<\/strong>Chica<\/b>\u00a0is a fun duet between the band\u2019s married couple.<\/p>\n

Themes of angst and dread\u00a0are evoked again on Elevator<\/em><\/strong>, a keys-led call to action, which crashes into a brilliantly mad wig-out \u201cI\u2019m Going Down\u201d<\/em> chorus.<\/p>\n

Single cut Formula X<\/em><\/strong> is emblematic Boss Hog, with crunching bass and drums, making room for another blade-sharp Jon Spencer riff.<\/p>\n

Replete with more slash \u2019n\u2019 burn declarative hollering from Cristina, it\u2019s a mighty beast of a song with full on kitchen sink production to match.<\/p>\n

The world-weary Sunday Routine<\/strong> is a very different animal; a cynical portrayal of the quiet desperation of suburban life.<\/p>\n

In Boss Hog\u2019s hands, the mundanity of the everyday becomes a stifling, cloying nightmarish vision, a banal prison of our own-making.<\/p>\n

17<\/em><\/strong> closes the album in similarly melancholy style.<\/p>\n

Cristina imagines herself as shy teenager keen to blend in, but \u201cswallowed by the noise\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strange, creepy, spectral little curio, with a stuttering polka rhythm and the crackling of static as though from an old-fashioned gramophone – a real haunted house of a tune.<\/p>\n

The song\u00a0plays out to the sinister hissing of insects’ wings, redolent of cicadas,\u00a0it’s the aural equivalent of that scene in David Lynch<\/strong>\u2019s Blue Velvet<\/em><\/strong> when the camera pans down from a pristine lawn to the seething underbelly of black insects crawling beneath.<\/p>\n

After 17 years away Boss Hog could have been accused of retreading past glories,\u00a0Brood X<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0shows they’ve still got plenty to say.<\/p>\n