BAUS: Songs to Snake To 12″

Description

We are thrilled to be releasing the latest effort from Oakland’s very own BAUS. Their first release in a few years, Songs To Snake To pushes the group forward in their trajectory of perfecting off-kilter no-wave / post-punk completely free of pretension. Recommended for fans of Mars, Kleenex, and The Slits. Limited pressing of 300 copies.

Our take: Baus is a band from Oakland who has several releases under their belt, but I believe this is the first time Ive heardthem. I see the tags post-punk and no wave associated with them in multiple places, which makes sense. Tracks like Proud, Pop Song, and Be Cool are bass-led songs a la Gang of Four or Delta 5, but thankfully keep their distance from the overt funkiness that makes a lot of music in this style sound corny. The more experimental and no wave elements are even more interesting. Those creep into the song-oriented material (like the noisy and chaotic guitars on Cannonball), but my favorite moments on the record are the more minimal, less song-oriented tracks like Skin, Interlude, and Classics. These tracks wander curiously from sound to sound in a way that reminds me of This Heat or even Faust. With a short running time and a lot of variation from track to track this is a quick and fun listen.