REVIEW: 69 Thoughts on Flesh Produce’s New Album, Couch Slime IV
I’m so hungry rn
I could really go for a kale salad with some fried chicken on it, sprinkle some flax seeds on that shit mmmmmm
I don’t know whether the IV in Couch Slime IV is meant to be the number 4 which would imply that there are three other Couch Slimes which would be intense or if it’s meant to be like intravenous like “inject this into your veins” which I don’t think I would ever do willingly
Because this record is sick
What I mean by that is that it’s really really good, but it also feels physically sick
Like sometimes when you listen to side B of Tago Mago and you think this is a good trip and then you listen to Side C and you’re like this is a baaaaad trip, like this is a good trip layered on top of a bad trip even though it sounds nothing absolutely like Tago Mago that was just the first record that came to mind for some reason sorry
Or if I were the most annoying person in the world I would say that they sound like DeAtH gRiPs
(although let’s face it sometimes Karl Fagerstrom’s drums are very Zach Hill js)
OR it’s like if 100 gecs were cool
😬
That’s not to say that 100 gecs aren’t cool
But, you know, come on
Basically it sounds like half of all the genres in one, like the music equivalent of a rainbow Fruit Roll-Up that you pulled off the bottom of your shoe
I’m actually surprised they don’t have a bigger presence on Bandcamp because the breakcore devotees would eat this up
Maybe one day
Flesh Produce are a band from Seattle
I discovered them right when they released Brute in April 2020 which was also right when the world sank another two feet into the shit
And I really liked it and ever since then I have been waiting for them to make more while also keeping one lil eye on their side projects jic
When I logged onto instagram.com and heard tail of a new record I DMed them immediately like um num num gimme gimme and they graciously said yes
Which brings us to WASH Magazine presents
69 THOUGHTS ON FLESH PRODUCE’S NEW ALBUM, COUCH SLIME IV
(which I have just now started to pronounce “Couch Slime Eye-Vee” in my head and whoops you cannot tell me otherwise)
It starts with “Big Sus” which is a song you’ve already heard if you were PAYING ATTENTION
You get a little grace period for the first 10 seconds where you’re standing out in the desert with your back to the LED stage and here comes the sunrise except (surprise) it’s a mushroom cloud
And it doesn’t get any less intense, it actually gets more intense
The energy starts at a 9 and the whole record doesn’t dip below an 8
Myla Profitt is the distorted disembodied demon voice behind the cyclone and because that voice sounds like every gender at once you’ll more than likely hear your own in it
I’m very glad that they made all of the lyrics available on Bandcamp because a lot of the time it’s hard to tell what she’s shouting which is kind of the point ig but it’s helpful for someone like me who writes about music for a “living”
That being said I view lyrics on a “need-to-know” basis because the moment I know what they are the language part of my brain activates and it kind of kills the magic, is anybody else like that? Anyway
Little discernable morsels arise from the din
There are a lot of “it”s, nameless articles, implacable targets for rage and disgust
Feels good to scream into the pillow on occasion
When silhouettes emerge they’re the common culprits we all know and love
—Fascists with government positions
—Fake friends
—Salivating erect men
—Pigs snort snort snort
—At rare points, the self, succumbing
THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW OF MY PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS (everything else is also good)
I love love love “Cross Eyed Dizzy” for its chockablock melody and mercurial drumbeat
“Feet Meat” makes my head want to live in a wall
“You Can’t Make Me Fuck” is relentless and it would have been nice to hear back when I was forcing myself to be okay with getting groped at gay bars
One important thing you should know is that it was recorded during one of the worst periods in recent American memory
And I don’t really want to remember it because even though I had a really good time with the guy I was living with just playing Nioh for weeks on end and getting coffee down the street and sleeping together, I also remember getting sucked into the spaces of what the big tech companies want our society to be and coming out the other end feeling like toothpaste squeezed out of a tube, feeling the plaque build up in my brain cords and on some days during the summer I used to take these long baths where I would be on Twitter until I turned into a ruddy prune shriveled down to a sick stomach and come to think of it that was the first time I started to get panic attacks
We’re not together anymore fyi
But what I’m saying is that Couch Slime IV sounds like what life really felt like during the pandemic
Which is to say a bottled twister or accelerated movement reaching terminal velocity until the point where the movement becomes invisible and meanwhile you’re still stuck in your goddamn room
It’s to Flesh Produce’s credit that they make information overwhelm sound so much more pleasant than it actually is
My attention span is fucking shot so I appreciate the hyper-engagement
Sounds come out of fucking nowhere
Tempos change on a dime
“Where am I/
What’s my name”
It all blurs together into ribbons of drunken color and skittering nicotine highs, aka The Apocalypse [remastered]
I will say though
That there is a song called “It Gets Better” that comes late in the runtime and is so blessed and straightforward that you could consider an oasis of sorts
Although to my cynical mind it almost feels out of place because it’s so weirdly earnest, like I did find myself thinking this is not the nihilism I signed up for
But I went to back to it and you know what? It works!
You can’t clench your jaw all the time, you’ll never survive that way
Besides, they go right back to the OOZ with a pair of “Scream Flips” that rock rock rock ooh yes
CONCLUSION
Couch Slime IV is fucking incredible gj y’all
It kind of nails the ideal balance of challenging and accessible
Anybody anywhere can appreciate the work that went into it, even the ones that don’t necessarily dig this stuff
To me it’s characteristic of the slimy mass of hard-laced queer genreless punk music practiced by some of the most exciting bands in Seattle’s underground, & these the bands that have consistently delivered the most memorable live sets I’ve attended this year and yes that includes every mainstream artist and festival
I have this fucked-up vision — do you remember the scene from Ghostbusters II where the river of pink slime oozing underneath the streets of New York suddenly bubbles up from the gutters and starts taking over the city?
Just something to keep in mind
I’m still hungry
Couch Slime IV is out on September 22. Catch Flesh Produce for their album release show at The Vera Project w/ Zookraught, Anthers, and Give Me The Money~