These United Stats
They might look like they could use a sandwich or two, but Brooklyn trio Stats (formerly known as Stay Fucked) specialize in a dense, sludgy brand of technical instrumetal, like a less outwardly intense early Dillinger Escape Plan or what forgotten Minnesota tribe Figure of Merit pulled off so capably on their equally forgotten Vatic record, and so their indie garb is a kind of disguise from which the sonic nastiness emerges. Very sneaky, you thick-framed strategists.
Be that as it may or may not — and even if it isn’t, I like the narrative so I’m keeping it — the three-song CD the band sent in for review came with little fanfare, no art, no track listing and no real explanation; just a black CDR, a short bio and an email address. Under normal circumstances (i.e., if they sucked), I probably would have put it in the pile to be eventually filed away, never to be heard again, but my curiosity was roused by the crashing noisy rhythms of the first track and I’ve gone back for multiple repeat listens since, each time hearing something new from Stats that I’d missed previously.
The EP is called Marooned, which I found out after emailing the aforementioned address, and the tracks are “Yo King,” “Sadcap” and “Crowds Press.” It’s available through their MySpace page, Stats are using it as a way to drum up interest in the band, and it would come as a big surprise if it didn’t work, because there’s just enough of a blend on “Sadcap” of what’s come before tempered with an individual edge to really make the song stand out. They jazzily work their way up and down scales, but never seem to be showing off or wasting measures. The music is deeply rhythmic — the kind of stuff you’d think Level Plane or maybe even Crucial Blast would take notice of — and whether they’re dealing blows with the low bass tone or the ghost-note ready snare, the three of them never lose sight of each other or where they are in the song. And even though they’re loosely structured, they are still songs, which is paramount.
There’s a bit of King Crimson in some of their runs, but Stats offset their prog side with a straightforward, ballsy riff like that around which “Crowds Press” is centered, honing in on a solid balance between nerdy tech-core and the unrepentantly viscous. The songs each being over five minutes in length, they have plenty of time to move in multiple directions or get sidetracked, though Stats never really lets it happen, demonstrating a control and precision that makes their sound all the more striking. Whether or not Marooned gets them the attention they seek will have to remain to be seen, but it certainly made me take notice, for whatever that’s worth. I can’t imagine I’ll be the only one.
