BODY SHAME / THE SOCIAL STOMACH “Split” (Bento Records)


The Social Stomach is like a death-jazz version of Soul Coughing, with Diana Oropeza’s poetics recited over TJ Thompson’s drums-and-electronics onslaught. You need to be an octopus to understand the coordination, because I’m pretty damned impressed as a biped. The Portland, Oregon, band shares a tape with Body Shame, an industrial/breakbeat monolith that merges with noise-rock for powerful, intense blasts of soul-crushing sonics. So sure, #soulcrushingsoulcoughing is the hashtag you’re looking for, even though that’s reductive and stupid. (Seriously, don’t use it.) Instead, bask in the warm ozone of fritzed wiring and spilled blood as the bands jig and jag all over and around you with metallic objects, sending you probably to the hospital before the tape ends. I am shivering in fear right now of having to get stitches. I don’t like needles! (Or COVID.)