Record of the Week: Geld: Perfect Texture

Geld: Perfect Texture 12” (Iron Lung) This Australian band plays pretty much exactly the type of music I want to hear when I check out a new band on Iron Lung Records… in other words, they perfectly combine punch-you-in-the-gut hardcore with something a little artsier and ambitious. Geld are certainly a capable hardcore band, and they’re great at a range of different moves, from full-bore rage to the bouncy, danceable rhythms of bands like Bib or Blazing Eye to the wild, out-of-nowhere, Vinnie Stigma-esque guitar lead. But they’re just as, if not more, capable as noisy experimentalists, whether you’re talking about the little bits of minimal industrial music that pepper the album, their occasional use of weird, proggy rhythms, or the way they lay crazy noise textures over top of everything like Jackson Pollock slinging paint across a canvas. Perfect Texture is one of those records where every song takes you to a different place, but the whole thing hangs together as a cohesive statement. If you’re someone who wants and expects something more and something new from hardcore this is highly recommended listening.