southern records

Soft Robotics (1:44) >> MP3

EAST WEST BLAST TEST began as an experiment between two friends: Bassist/guitarist Chris Dodge and drummer Dave Witte. Both veterans hail from diverse backgrounds: Dodge from the straight forward hardcore thrash of Spazz, Burn Your Bridges, and Stikky, to the experimental realms of Jesus Philbin and Ancient Chinese Secret, to the mainstream punk of No Use For A Name, to the flat out campiness of Abba-junkies Bjorn Baby Bjorn and mock thug rockers Duh; Witte blazed new trails of the extreme, providing the backbone to an endless number of legendary units such as Melt-Banana, Discordance Axis, Municipal Waste, Burnt By The Sun, Phantomsmasher, Human Remains, Exit-13, and I Abhor Her to name only a few.

Witte lived back East in New Jersey, and Dodge out West in California. After years of talk, they took action via long-distance. Instead of writing songs together, Witte would hit the studio and record drum tracks with nothing to go on aside from his own creativity. He recorded complete songs consisting only of drums. He mailed the drum tracks to Dodge who was faced with the challenge of writing music to match whatever Witte created. Dodge recorded guitar, bass, and vocal parts to complete the album.

From grindcore to experimental to funk to lounge to purely invented ethnic music, the second East West Blast Test album, Popular Music For Unpopular People, pushes the envelope and straps in the listener for an aural rollercoaster ride, one that simultaneously assaults and pleases the senses.

Their 1st record, East West Blast Test S/T originally came out on Dodge's own Slap A Ham label, and was later reissued on Relapse. And now, ladies and gents we bring you their new Ipecac Recordings album Popular Music For Unpopular People, from which SOFT ROBOTICS is taken in all it's genre leaping glory.

Popular Music For Unpopular People is released on 23 January. You can BUY it then.