They say in space no one can hear you scream, but maybe the repercussions of the cosmic horror show travel on a different frequency. Despite its silly title, that’s the implication in “Grumpy Goomba,” the lead single from LA’s Pioneer 11. The tracks skips along on a weightless groove, with retro synth bubbles popping around a minimal sketch of guitar; it’s all very smooth and contained, with a scrim of vintage production cues unifying the ticking digital percussion and falsetto vocals.
But something seems off—there’s something uncomfortable happening here, an unspoken and hardly expressed anxiety or sense of menace. Like Liars circa WIXIW, Pioneer 11 don’t enunciate the void so much as they imply it, and their work is all the more powerful for it.
Alex Hastings and Bryan Gomez first got together with producer Paul White (who’s also worked with Danny Brown and Open Mike Eagle) for the Phosphorous Philosophers EP, and now POW Records is prepping their debut full-length, Gravitorium. That album will be out later this year, but you can peep the (equally discomfiting) video for “Grumpy Goomba” below.
