Brainworms

Brainworms II : Swear to Me

Brainworms takes the best parts of Les Savy Fav; the angular guitars, intricate drumming, and merges it with energy and grit of RVA hardcore. The guitar work attacks you like an angry swarm of bees, darting in and out of your speakers. Greg Butler, the singer, sounds insane as he rants, screams, and protests through these ten songs. You can almost picture him in a straightjacket, or on a street corner in New York. This record is one of my favorites of 2009. It expands on their earlier releases in a way that makes me excited for what's next.

You can by the record from Rorschach Records by clicking the link on the right. It is available on vinyl and CD.

In my head, this is how Brainworms came about.

Cue dream sequence:

Around 2005, the band Les Savy Fav announced that they would be on hiatus for a while. They ceased playing shows until 2007, where they rejoined to play All Tomorrow's Parties, and released a new album.

In the two years of their hiatus, singer Tim Harrison was hard at work developing a cloning machine in Richmond, VA. He had recently watched the first 20 minutes of "Multiplicity", and was excited at the prospect of an easier life. Unfortunately for Harrison, the science was still maturing, and he was only able to produce a mini version of himself, who he named TH2.

Growing at an incredible rate, the clone, was finally old enough to follow in his creator's footsteps. The clone listened to some of Harrison's early recordings, and picked up on the nervous energy that reverberated throughout each album. He tried to emulate the style, but alas his vocal chords had not been perfectly duplicated. He had the same mannerisms, appearance and style of his 'father", but each word he spoke came out as guttural scream.

Disgusted by his creation, Harrison banished him from the lab and his life. He moved back to NY, and wrote off his time in Virginia as a dark period in his life.

Roaming the streets, TH2 resorted to the only thing he knew. Richmond, the summit of hardcore music, quickly embraced young TH2, now known as "Greg Butler" and surrounded him with a band of unparalleled greatness.

End dream sequence: