Boy Band and mind bending alt rock "Espa Roba" from the artistically diverse “Unilateroloid”

 

"by your side...."

In the wake of so many senseless tragedies that fill up our phone screens daily that have to do with gun violence, from school shootings to mass shootings to random horrific killings in every city in this country, it is exquisitely apparent that there is a pervasive toxicity in the United States that will touch the lives of nearly everyone reading this. When I heard the divergent, sonic jigsaw collisions of "Espa Roba" by a fluidly experimental Chicago based alt rock duo called Boy Band (and from their album "Unitlateroloid") it had the "happy" synapses in my brain firing wildly but that happiness was dashed after reading the press notes. 

You see, half of Boy Band, Ryan Arliskas was murdered on April 8th, 2022 walking home as he did often from the other half of Boy Band, Dot Ashby's home only a seven minute walk away. Ryan, known by many in the Chicago indie music scene as Tygercat was a talented drummer and multi-instrumentalist. As his father Adam indicated, "His airpods were still in his ears", it was not a robbery, nothing was taken. He was shot twice and his killers (there are some indications that there are 3 persons of interest) have not yet been found.

Tygercat played with a lot of musicians in the area and within his latest project, Boy Band, he delved in heavy, deeply, playing all instruments with Dot Ashby providing vocals. 

She shares:

"We started this project in the Spring of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. He was murdered on April 8th, 2022 walking home from my house. He never got to know just how talented he was when he was alive, or how many lives he touched, but he was so excited to get this album out. He played drums, bass, and guitar on this whole record, and I sung on it. I want the world to hear this song and album in honor of my bestie. Long live Tygercat"

And from Boy Band's Bandcamp page:

"I've never shared such a deep platonic love with someone, or had such an easy connection with a bestie. Everyday I wake up, and realize that I'll never spend time chain smoking cigarettes and talking about life on the porch with my best friend again. I wake up, and I think about how much I would give up anything to do that one last time. You deserved better, it never needed to be like this. Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for showing me what unconditional love is. Your memory is and will forever remain a blessing. I will love you forever dude.

To quote Desmond from our favorite show, Lost, I'll see you in another life, brother."

The striking "Espa Roba", track 4 from "Unitlateroloid", starts off running with strident guitar downbeats offset by power chords and bending dissonant lines against forward anchoring bass and drums as orchestrated by Tygercat. Dot Ashby's vox, a combination of whimsy and raised eyed surreal dreaminess like twee pop meets art punk offsets the music in interesting ways. Heavy but forward moving at about 30 seconds, the song spirals off the rails (in a good way). The vox flood in more sideways, layers of harmonies against battling musical sounds, progressively drawn and imploding in on itself like post hardcore, like grunge, like experimental punk jazz (the only way I can describe it). Amazingly, these cross hardcore connections all played by Tygercat feel very band like, the synergy feels feral and live. A testament to his ability to feel improvisational and ID even though he knows what's coming his way. 

"Unitlateroloid" is by any stretch an alt rock / art punk record but songs like "Valspar", "Sub Nautiloid" and "Wii Demand Stigmergy" while embedded in deeply intricate grooves (showing Tygercats exquisite drumming) run the gamut, squeezing in dense experimental art punk motifs and one minute when I am flashing on artists like OSEES, the next second I am thinking St. Vincent or Pere Ubu. Other songs shift into whimsical sort of psych bedroom pop on high sonic imagery like the amazing, "Juliet" with synth tones and Dot's childlike upside down rollercoaster vocal melodies or "Necco Heart Forever" that pummels against trance like vox. The sound is unforgiving, wildly cool and dense and I thought of Otoboke Beaver, the Breeders, Tropical Fuck Storm, X and Blag Flag all in the same out of breath breath. 

In the midst of the dense punk mosh when you come across the mid-tempo "Red Lemon Red Taxi" with blues and side stepping jazz shapes it kind of slaps you in the face. There are dissonant vox pushing against envelopes and the overall dark lounge rock / punk feel is something you find yourself swaying to. "Faith is a Hologram" shifts slower to with free form vox that somehow strain into a blending psych pop meats bedroom pop existence and I like the artistic decision to strip down with no bass or drums at all. 

When you step into the fray of "The Lightning American" you might feel an overall impression of Boy Band insofar as it feels darkly daring. Art punk as something with teeth but surreal. Imagine it as a soundtrack to life or to something resembling life and it feels very David Cronenberg meets David Lynch meets Veronika Franz. Delving into "Unitlateroloid" is (as they say) not for the faint of heart and listening to it's brilliant divergent artistry made me sad. I could think of nothing more cool and inspiring as watching this album realized LIVE with other musicians while Dot sings in her unmistakable way and Tygercat does what he was fucking meant to do... forever. 

-Robb Donker Curtius 

 

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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://boybandworldwide.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3FHVNjoeur2qfS5ChkqrfF

https://www.instagram.com/boybandworldwide/

Boy Band is a Chicago based experimental alternative rock project

Boy Band, alt rock, indie rock, art punk, Chicago, Dot Ashby on vox, Ryan Arliskas, Tygercat, multi-instrumentalist, drummer, experimental rock, divergent, artistically driven, feral, ID rock, “Unilateroloid” album,

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