Spite FuXXX Find Out (art by MG Stillwaggon)

 

Find Out, the debut full-length album from Brooklyn’s Spite FuXXX, is like stepping into a swirling sonic cartoon, not unlike the effect of some very fun drugs. But you will eagerly suck this Kool-Aid down, and frontwoman MG Stillwaggon will pick you up in a hotrod made of flame, so no time to get ready, just go! There is no choice but to embrace the volcanic chaos of Spite FuXXX’s self-described “trash noise punk.” And like all good trips, you’ll find deeper meanings within the color pulsations, and you might come out the other end a better person with more clarity. If you’re lucky…sucka! No…really.  

 

This album is political and surreal, danceable and thrashing, a shitload of fun, and it might even help you navigate the absurdity and nightmares of late capitalism. Stillwaggon and company are cruising through hell and back on waves of spacey synth (from Frankie L. Frances, also screaming out backing vocals), thoroughly danceable guitar riffs (skillfully played by Anaïs Valdez), and an always driving rhythm section (from the super duo of Alex Glueck on drums and Greg Albert on bass). So turn up the volume, slam yourself into overdrive, and take the journey to the Hollywood Burger King with Spite FuXXX. This junk food is good for you.

 

Spite FuXXX performing (photo by Kate Hoos)

 

Stillwaggon’s raw vocals rush right out in the album’s first two tracks “Too Much,” and “Last Word.” Both songs are efficient punk anthems (clocking in at under two minutes each) of women who will not be controlled and will not settle for less than they deserve. The rapid-fire distorted guitar sounds and relentless rhythms are squeezed through the time warp feel of Frances’s synth sounds for a truly unique blend of noise and punk. Stillwaggon’s lyrics make it clear that she will not be quiet, no matter how uncomfortable it makes any man that she fuxxx: “I think I wanna start some shit…cuz baby watching you squirm in those jeans is even better than getting you outta them.”  

 

Find Out’s third track, “Gates of Hell,” is when things really get wild. Stillwaggon slams her foot on the gas and the Spite FuXXX speedster careens off the road and down a hole into the underworld, where suddenly the uncontrollable heroines of the first two tracks are “kissing death by the gates of hell.” Ooooooh, Death! It’s sexy. And a little goth. And delightfully surreal and weird. But the standout song of the album is “Eat the Rich,” Stillwaggon’s exemplary lyrical gifts really shine on this fourth track, and in the name of taking down the one percent, a sentiment most of us can enthusiastically appreciate: “They watch us die while collecting their tax break / So let em cry as they watch their glass break / Whaddya think, broiled or sauteed? / Bet their champagne makes a great marinade” Yum, yum! Eat up, proles, this is your moment! All good satirical fun, or deathly serious? Who cares? Let’s dance! Spite FuXXX is gonna make you jump up and down until your brain has collided with your skull so many times you don’t care if this is a joke or if you actually are chewing on some rich asshole’s disembodied arm.

 

The frenzy continues in “Fuck Yr Star Magick,” another standout track, where the collective rage at the rich has morphed into freeform anger at the prophecy of the stars “Gemini rising up my ass! / Maybe it’s Mercury, Maybe it’s bullshit!…Your aura is piss yellow / L train rising, fuck right off!”  a uniquely Brooklyn burst of aggression!  The hallucinatory technicolor storm of it all is well-captured by visual artist Preston Spurlock’s video to accompany the fifth track, the groovy “Break Me”: 

 

 

In the end, the Spite FuXXX roadster pulls up to the “Hollywood Burger King,” Find Out’s ninth and final song. They push you out into the parking lot, but before they drive off into the toxic neon sunset, you fall into the somewhat frightening joy of their raucous music once again. You will “sell your flamebroiled soul to the Hollywood Burger King!” But you had a great time, and you might even feel better about the impending apocalypse. Many thanks for the ride, Spite FuXXX! 

 

Find Out is out now via Make Believe Records and available on all major streaming platforms.