Noise rock is increasingly becoming the embodiment of “angry music” today. Obscure and unorthodox song compositions, topped with unthinkably vigorous instrumental and vocal parts that seem to aim to confound listeners rather than empathize with them. Chicago trio Lil Tits display a level of agitation second to none on their upcoming cassette EP, The Usual, out July 28 on Moniker Records. Their first single, and consequent album opener, “Circus,” is a stomping tantrum that, were it to continue beyond the 2:06 mark, would result in the destruction of major cities. The guitar sounds like somebody put pickups on a working chainsaw, tearing through your core in messy heart attack rhythms, and the unrelenting pounding of drums are the latter stages of a Chinese water torture, every hit feels exponentially more catastrophic than the one before it. The vocals are the final nail in the coffin of everything ever knew to be safe and ordinary. Sharp, stabbing shrieks of indiscernible fury virtually dowse your head in kerosene and light a match, the only comfort coming in the discomforting recognition of the repeated line, “We all fall down.” And when the vocals are held out in more “singsong” fashion, it’s like the sky turns black in its own goddamn doomsday anthem. It ends before you can make sense of anything other than your own horror. The blaze is extinguished and you’re left with the lingering stench of burnt hair making you wonder if you had a stroke.
