Armed with legit credibility and one of the best band names in the state, Cushing’s new album Blood of Cushing is a satisfying stretch of music, the kind that most rock fans have forgotten how to play. Led by guitarist and songwriter Serge Vladimiroff, the trio play a dark, sulky noise-rock that sprouts from a complex root system of post-punk influences. They’re as fun to spot as they are to hear transformed.
You don’t have to be in the lab with these guys to know they construct songs differently than most rock groups. Opener “Snow Angel” starts with a strut led by Vladimiroff’s stinging guitar riff, reminding me of the spastic postpunk freakouts by Brainiac in the ’90s. “Super 16” is a wonderful mess of angular guitar peals held together by Evan Coffey’s shapely bass routes. Many of the songs slot into the cross section of D.C. post-punk and AmRep noise — styles seldom stumbled upon accidentally in 2018. Stuff that comes to mind include Bluetip, Arab on Radar, Chrome, Edsel, Rye Coalition, Girls Against Boys, Six Finger Satellite, and Shellac (specifically Bob Weston’s tracks) — it’s definitely a niche profile, but the band hardly play it as obscure music. These guys know what they’re doing and why, and to the uninitiated listener, it’s done well enough to sound fresh.
