Chotto Ghetto

Rampage (2007)

justin August

Chotto Ghetto are a hardcore-ish band from southern California. I say hardcore-ish since the band fuses elements of hardcore, melody, bouncing rhythms and spazz-osity into their music.

The four-song EP opens with "Rhythmic Violence," which has a bouncy, sing-along chorus that seems to long for a time when a touring band can sleep in their own beds. The second track, "Emergency" sounds like it could easily be a cover of Chicago's greatest carnival ska-punks the Blue Meanies. A driving rhythm propelled by drums and guitar line with some backing synth at points tears halfway through the song until the "breakdown" and plaintive cry of "why must I be so close to emergency?" before going to back to its spazzy verse.

"Holy Wars" (sadly not a Megadeth cover) has some fun guitar noodling at the beginning and dueling vocals that "just work" in this context. This track is a politics-heavy barnburner, ripping through religion and the three minutes of the song in what feels like half the time. The end trails out with some odd, dub-influenced noises shaking out through your speakers. Track 4, "Sodium Pentathol Truth Serum" leads in from the weird noodling leftover from "Holy Wars" and then picks up that theme and carries it through the song. This is by far the most interesting song on the album, although it does feel a bit drawn out at 3 minutes and 19 seconds.

Overall, good release and you can't beat Quote Unquote's prices. This is definitely a band I'll catch if they come through the area and I'll be on the lookout for future releases.