4 out of 5

Label: Electricity & Lust

Produced by: Pual Krogh

“Recorded live to 2″ tape at Dub Narcotic Studio in Olympia” makes all the kinds of sense when you hear the fuzzy but clean, loose guitar strum and pat-pat-patter drumming that kicks off instrumentalists Chung Antique’s 7″ – this is the K / Up Records kinda sound, bubbled up with a direct intensity that the rawest forms of those acts tend to have. But then when the grungey squash of distortion kicks in, and heavier percussion, you might drift towards Chicago – early Don Cab, Slint. Chung Antique’s particular form of math rock crosses a lot of streams, and Artesian Swell is a madly confident master class in that, even mixing in some surf / dub in non-intrusive ways as the song skips to its midsection, the 4.5 minute tune somehow straddling a relaxed, summery swagger and heavy-handed harshness at the same time.

B-side Norse Code is maybe a bit less wide in its genre hops – a bit less jaw-dropping – sticking to that Seattle sound, but the punky momentum of it recalls Polyvinyl stuff like Turing Machine, and the tune builds up to a really stunning bit of chord smashing in its final section.

This group burned fast and bright.