This is a pretty rad split. Both bands are/were from Kalamazoo, MI and absolute fucking shred on their instruments. Both are exemplary genre-benders, but not so outside the box that I can’t help but wonder why the fuck they aren’t more well known. Is Kalamazoo really THAT far off the beaten path?
Mold’s side of this painfully too short split is one behemoth, nine minute sprawl of heavy, bluesy prog-rock, with w/ flamenco & noise flourishes throughout, to keep the listener on their ears’ toes. Seriously, without being derivative at all, this track sounds like the heaviest of heavy moments in a Jeff Buckley live recording, but, like, pretty much all the goddamn time. Also, they have song titles like “Drunk Cowboy Can’t Help That He’s So Good at Shooting Guns”, and “I’m So Hot in This Goddamn Leather Jacket”, so you really can’t help but smile and hope that, since their internet presence seems to have stopped a few years back, they’re either just on a long haitus or have gone off grid to conjure up another masterpiece in some abandoned factory up there along the outskirts of Kalamazoo.
Shoto’s side is even heavier, veering into swampy stoner rock territory (a la Iron Monkey), with some breakneck grind riffage thrown in for greater rhythmic dynamism; and all of this atop some novel, engaging guitar and bass tone pairing. Both these songs are creative, masterful, and worthy of serious, LOUD listening!
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad213-mold-shoto-split
https://moldkalamazoo.bandcamp.com/
and/or
https://shotoband.bandcamp.com/
--Jacob An Kittenplan
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