Brett CallwoodIf you’re going to start an album right, choosing Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys to feature on your first song is a damn good way to do it. bi/MENTAL starts off strong in this way and stays strong with Teri Gender Bender, lead vocalist, posing as a Mexican warrior on the cover of the album. This imagery is a fantastic foreshadowing for the journey we are about to take with Teri and her band. The album speaks ancestral, taking on the family tree with songs like “father/ELOHIM,” and my personal favorite, “mother/HOLDS.” “mother/HOLDS” features punk legend and the producer of our last album, Alice Bag, continuing the nod to our punk ancestors. The songs screeches, screams and shakes through the process of birth and the necessary but sometimes suffocating relationship of mother and child. This fearless sound is a mainstay to the album. It separates Le Butcherettes from their previous works and is inspiring in the terms of growth in sound. As bands grow and have more resources, commonly their sound is at risk of becoming safer and more commercial. bi/MENTAL is the opposite: it’s raw, it’s strong, it’s fearless. Like a warrior.
Fatty Cakes & the Puff Pastries’s show with Alison Stevenson, the Groans and the 1800s on Thursday, March 19 at Alex’s Bar has been cancelled. But they’re great so go to fattycakesband.com, or stream them at Spotify, iTunes or most other platforms. When the virus nightmare is over, go see them live.
(Rise Records)
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.