DSTVV (Noah)

It’s always a bummer to hear a band, think “wow, what a great band”, and then read in the same place where you just recently discovered said band, that, well, this is their last album. DSTVV, the band in question, refers to themselves as “industrial grungegaze” which to my ears sounds like a jagged pillow of 90s flannel-rock stretched a little wider, before being kicked in the ass with some pounding drum-machine riffs. Lead singer Joel Cusumano, a member of Cocktails, Talkies and Stalls – new staples of the San Francisco scene – might very well be the definition of disaffected monotone. But with all the thrashing and guitar sliding going around behind it, the simplicity of it, the affected boredom, feels like a lifeline, something to grab on to while you’re enjoying the brain-smashing drums and razor-blade tipped cloud of music floating around you. And as happy as I am to have discovered DSTVV and their musical equivalent of, happily, rolling around in a pile of very pretty, very sharp metal, it’s bittersweet, as their newest release, Target Demographic, will also be their last. Hello DSTVV, goodbye DSTVV, it was nice to get sonically mauled by you.