The Floor Above: Assault on Still Live cassette

Description

Full length cassette from the one-man army Chad L’Eplattenier, The Floor Above is the product of a singular, undiluted vision. Hardcore as a starting point and rocketing off into the atmosphere, a wonderful and frightening demolition of reality. For fans of the Mecht Mensch/Tar Babies split, Void, and the Landspeed Record-era Huskers.

Our take: Not Normal Records continues its long-running association with this obscure Nashville hardcore band on this latest cassette, containing 21 of the loosest, rawest slices of hardcore youre likely to hear. The reference points are obviousVoid, Negazione, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers, newer bands like Mozart or Neon that kind of thingbut if you like this style of music you dont care about the reference points so much as the unhinged freedom that these bands evoke in the listener, and the Floor Above do it better than just about anyone. It seems like they spontaneously create riffs then forget them as they’re recording these tracks. Guitars go way out of tune. There are plenty of short outbursts of pure hardcore thrash, but theres a surprising amount of melody here too. Roadside Abyss is a highlight, sounding like it was spliced in from a drunken Plastic Surgery Disasters-era Dead Kennedys bootleg. Diminished Players has acomically dumb riff, but the way that riff phases in and out of existence due the looseness of the playing elevates it to the level of genius. Can you even call this loose anymore? Its something else to me, the undiluted sound of I dont give a fuck. My only gripe iswith the vocals, which sit way back in the mix and serve aswindow dressing rather than an essential part of the sound. This is niche stuff, but its a niche I cant get enough of when its done just right.