BIRTH (DEFECTS) ANNOUNCE THEIR FINAL RELEASE – ‘FICTIONAL DAYS’ COMPILATION VIA EXPERT WORK RECORDS AND REPTILIAN RECORDS
Featuring a number of unreleased songs alongside the cover-versions of Sonic Youth, The Comsat Angels and Nirvana, the noise-rock band is happy to reveal the details on their new release
Release: May 22
Genres: noise-rock, post-hardcore.
Format: Vinyl, Digital
FFO: Flipper, Leather, The Stalin
Label: Expert Work Records/Reptilian Records
Tracklist:
1. Deceiver – available from now on
2. Sunday (Sonic Youth)
3. Doubts
4. Scapegoat (The New Flesh)
5. Postcard (The Comsat Angels)
6. I Hate Myself and Want to Die (Nirvana)
7. Youth – contains explicit lyrics
8. Take
9. How Much Art (SSD) – contains explicit lyrics
“We have a limited amount of time on this Earth.” A.C. Thompson, author of Torture Taxi stood mouth to ear, and gave me an earful. “So if I have to choose how I want to spend this time I absolutely don’t want to spend any of it doing stupid shit.”
It was a cold and overcast San Francisco night but the words had the ring of the eternal and remembering them while listening to Birth (Defects) final record of alt takes, covers and unreleased from an underground songbook of significance, a rejoinder: you’re goddamned right.
Because while the methodology for choosing the songs here is only hinted at, they very much have a fuck-you feel that I’d like to imagine befits a singer who has to work pedal boards and hold all 140 pounds of himself aloft for the better part of 30 minutes to get the job done at all. All while voicing songs from Sonic Youth (Sunday), The Comsat Angels (Postcard), Nirvana (I Hate Myself and Want to Die) and SSD (How Much Art) among other originals.
Recorded by J Robbins, mixed by Barrett Jones (Pussy Galore, KARP, Nirvana) and mastered by Mathew Barnhart, Birth (Defects) have moved the needle from nice songs to a kind of urgency that would make the original authors proud it seems. Mostly because it feels, for them, almost more necessary to do this, this time, than it was for the authors’ the first time.
Which is the glory of those who do without concern/interest in recompense. That is, when no one gives a fuck what you do, you can do just about anything and here Birth (Defects) do exactly that and the sound to my ear wipes any and all slates clean and shows that they heard the Platonic triad working through these tunes, their heads and ultimately into a record that if you don’t listen to it means more about what you can hear than anything about what they didn’t do.
Which is usually the case in the face of an almost perfect record. I dug it, and you should too. – Eugene S. Robinson, BUNUEL
I’m proud that we were able to finish this band the way we wanted to. These covers are important to me as a whole because they act as a soundtrack to the progression we had. This band had many challenges both personally and logistically. There were times where I think most bands would have given up — and we did for a moment. When the band started, both Rob and I were old enough to realize that this was something for the sake of making music and creating art together.
We were thoughtful about what made sense for us. You can hear that in these songs and these covers. Birth (Defects)’ span as a whole is a body of work that represents accepting the shortcomings of those around you but — more importantly — accepting your own shortcomings. It is on yourself to own those shortcomings and grow. It never ends. Birth (Defects) will forever be a living document of that. – Sean Gray
Birth (Defects) was my first project back after a short hiatus from playing in bands in my teens and early 20s.
I was going through a divorce, deciding how I was going to reorganize my life, and reconnecting with old friends. Returning to music felt natural. Birth (Defects) was a lifeline, an outlet — a renewed drive to create.
I’d always felt most comfortable behind a guitar, expressing myself through sound rather than word. Everything was intentional. I replaced stage banter — and basically forbade it in this band — with harsh noise interludes. I did not want to give the audience a break. I wanted our performances to be endurance tests. I wanted to make ugly music you couldn’t forget — that you wouldn’t want to forget. – Rob Savillo
Fictional Days’ is coming out May 22 available for pre-orders from now
