SCRAPER

San Francisco, USA

It is with great gusto that Slovenly Recordings thrusts the 2nd LP from San Francisco’s SCRAPER squarely into the jaws of the desperate. Produced by Chris Woodhouse (Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Blind Shake) at The Dock in Sacramento, “Misery” is an exercise in simplistic, tightly controlled negativity that crushes the fine line between panic and frenzy into oblivion. A rapid attack of artillery-mimicking snare and bass heavy hunch is the canon, wrought in a Bay Area sewer and reveling in a verminous infestation of post-punk pulse: think WIRE versus THE SPITS in a Shaolin death trap. Necessary indictments of dot-com Silicon scum manifest in “Rodent” while “Clones” and “Reaction” drive the point with unparalleled frustration and an uncanny ability to deliver remarkable rock’n’rattle. SCRAPER administers a deliberate slug to the gut, never fucking around with pretty boy gimmicks and pretense, and “Misery” is the rabid battle cry.

Photo: Michelle Ross Slater