Villabrut / Knives

Split [7 inch] (2007)

Brian Shultz

Charleston, SC's Gasping for Breath Records stands out to me (and likely to you) because their first release was La Quiete's excellent full-length, the now out-of-print La Fine Non è la Fine. However, with each passing release the label has proved themselves to be more than a hotbed for celebrated screamo acts. This split 7" featuring a song each from Villabrut (of Asheville, NC / Baltimore, MD) and the UK's Knives helps prove that.

Villabrut decide to spin "Remagen" at 45 RPMs. It's a shifting, discordant post-hardcore number that's outshone a bit by its counterpart on the record, but it's definitely not bad. Google my description and you can probably find lots of bands from the 1990s they sound like.

As bizarre as this is, Knives actually have their song spinning at 33 1/3 RPMs. It's not like an error, either, because the speed is actually printed on the record's center art. Weird. Anyway, it's titled "Schteve Albini Wants His Riff Back," but the riff it starts with actually reminds me more of what would have resulted if Don Caballero put out releases on Dischord in the early `90s instead of Touch & Go. While the band repeat that cool deal a couple times for the rest of the song, it's more of an indie rock / post-hardcore approach, with more discernable and somewhat melodic vocals than Villabrut.

Really solid.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD
the whole split