The Austin, Texas of today is much different than the Texas state capitol of six years ago, when Leo Ashline and Shaun Ringsmuth began writing digital hardcore ballads as Street Sects, sounding like the calculated punk of Texan Dirtnap bands like The Marked Men and Bad Sports mutated to meet the dark, industrial standards of their label The Flenser. The city was gentrifying then, when the band released their first EP in their five-part Gentrification series—and that issue has obviously only worsened since.
This week sees the release of the group’s penultimate installment in the series, Gentrification IV: Suspended From Gallery Rails, which showcases the same disorienting electro-punk as its predecessors. While the previously released “Tomorrow Is a Trap” at times recalls early HEALTH, its complement “If Life’s a Gift, It’s in Very Poor Taste,” is a more fractured, bipolar experience rife with bleak observations about love.
“‘If Life is a Gift, It’s in Very Poor Taste’ depicts, through first person narrative, observations about our preoccupations with relationships and our dependencies upon some form of love, regardless of the quality,” the band shares. “We use love as a distraction, as a balm for the drudgery of the work week, as a salve for our fears. Most of us are afraid of being alone. We build families as a way of safeguarding ourselves from isolation and unimportance. We drag children into the world (oftentimes without the means to adequately support them) because we feel it is our right, we feel as though we are entitled to reproduction. We cast lives into existence as carelessly and irresponsibly as one might throw trash onto the street from the window of a moving vehicle.”
Adequately mirroring the energy of the black-and-white-and-blood-red video, which sees Ashline enunciating the harsh lyrics, they conclude, “It all boils down to selfishness, the words ‘I love you,’ the act of intercourse, the vows, the commitments, the promises, the creation of new life. It all comes down to how it makes us feel. Some of us are successful at maintaining the high that comes with the actualization of these pursuits, these dreams, these fantasies, but most us fail. Most of us end up back where we started…alone.”
Watch the video below, and pre-order a copy of Gentrification IV, out this Friday via The Flenser, here. Read on for North American tour dates through January.
North America Tour Dates:
Dec 3 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves*
Dec 4 Wichita, KS @ DIYMCA*
Dec 5 Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room*
Dec 6 Minneapolis, MN @ Barfly*
Dec 7 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean*
Dec 8 Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary^
Dec 9 Toronto, ON @ Baby G^
Dec 10 Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo^
Dec 11 Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus^ #
Dec 12 Boston, MA @ O’Briens #
Dec 13 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie #
Dec 14 Washington, DC @ Atlas Brew Works #
Dec 15 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 #
Dec 16 Atlanta, GA @ 529 #
Dec 17 Nashville, TN @Betty’s #
Dec 18 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa #
Dec 19 Houston, TX @ Secret Group #
Dec 20 Austin, TX @ 523 Thompson #
Jan 10 – Phoenix, AZ @ Club Red %
Jan 11 – San Diego, CA @ Space %
Jan 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell %
Jan 13 – Costa Mesa, CA @ The Wayfarer %
Jan 15 – Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room Jack London %
Jan 16 – Eugene, OR @ Old Nicks %
Jan 17 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark %
Jan 18 – Seattle, WA @ Substation %
Jan 19 – Tacoma, WA @ The Plaid Pig %
Jan 20 – Boise, ID @ RamaPong %
Jan 21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records %
Jan 22 – Laramie, WY @ The Great Untamed %
Jan 23 – Denver, CO @ High Dive %
Jan 24 – Wichita KS, @ DIYMCA %
* Fire-Toolz
^ w/ meth.
# w/ Elizabeth Colour Wheel
% w/ Portrayal of Guilt
