Austin trio haha Laughing take things back to a time before JPEGMAFIA was kind of famous, mining the even weirder troughs of bygone noise-inspired SoundCloud rap while paying homage to local legend B L A C K I E with boisterous sax integrated in the mix. But balanced with the post–Odd Future too-online chaos of these recordings is a highly contemporary sense of playfulness making their live shows just as much of a draw as their recordings, taking cues as they do from freak-punk innovators like Lip Critic and Model/Actriz. It’s no wonder they recently scored an opening slot for RXK Nephew.
Their new single “Pulled Apart by Horses” demonstrates all of this perfectly, as the fury that so clearly fuels the track gets morphed into something undeniably fun as it’s translated to blown-out beats. “‘Pulled Apart by Horses’ is meant to be the musical equivalent of taking toxic, negative reactions to life’s curveballs and ripping them to pieces,” the trio shares before noting that the track takes the formula for their prior recordings a step further. “The song was the first new track made after we started doing live shows, and the pummeling, repetitive rhythm was meant to represent the themes while also getting the crowd going.”
Speaking of the crowd going, the single arrives alongside footage depicting just that, among plenty of other bizarre imagery (including rubber animal masks—another beacon of bygone mid-’10s online-weirdo culture) that feels par for the course for the band. “For the video we teamed up with our friend Kelsey Rodgers who totally understood our chaotic vibe. bb basco found the gutted TV, and I ordered a horse mask off of eBay—the rest of the shoot came easy.”
Check it out below, and catch them on tour at the dates listed here.
