The Portland, Oregon duo Dck Vnngt (pronounced Dick Vonnegut), consists of Yunsloth and Bloodmoney, two producers who dropped their EP 'Mrdr Dth Kll' just over a week ago. Their debut effort under the abstract moniker Dck Vnngt is a collection of eight tracks. They conclude with a remix by Nasa, a song featuring Adam Warlock! I've covered both artists here before, so their collaboration stoked the fire of my interest accordingly. But we're here for Dck Vnngt, and the music behind so wonderful and ambigous a cover. A seemingly mutated and disturbed version of the Rorschach test, it's easy to identity the doomed accumulation of numerous rockets and missiles and bombs, their sights set on targets beyond our view. Yunsloth and Bloodmoney have fuelled the sound behind such apocalyptic imagery with a sensibility akin to that of cataclysmic fallout. Old-age samples detail a furious land, angrily looting and stealing anything they can. Rationality has turned to insanity for comfort, lying with the devil and hearing his content breathing reverberate against a conscious decision to flee from humanity. White teeth coloured red, sharpened to points as unlabelled meat is torn to shreds. Eyes accustomed to the dark flit back and forth, lips upturned in constant snarls. It's a powerful image, and Dck Vnngt might have just recorded the soundtrack to it!
The EP's name is also a point of interest. 'Mrdr Dth Kll' should be easily transcribed, a title with the very darkest connotations. These unsightly thoughts weigh down heavy upon your mind as the opening track 'The World Is An Animal' rears its ominous head. Off-kilter drums are beaten with furious energy, smothered by a low, tribal throb that could summon demons from the bowels of hell itself. Hints of a melody crawl between verses, a flucuating growl pulsating during its three minute lifespan. "The world is an animal that eats it young" goes one line, the words spat with a hatred of modern animosity. "Razors under tongues" concludes the track with a punch to the gut, highlighting the sly, back-stabbing horrors of materialistic nations. It's a thought-provoking notion and one put across fantastically! The second number here, 'Audio Opiates' is simply stunning. As the name suggests, narcotic vocals back the main lyricism. They lament an unknown death, dripping in reverb. Echoes dance amongst shadows, creating a certain beautiful surrealism. A spoken word interlude talks of churches and Sundays, haunting the vocalists nightmares, riddling them with guilt.
An eerie melody crackling with age runs through '10 Steps'. A great sample and some equally nice references to David Blaine and doctors and suffering make this track one of the best lyrically, and leads into 'Weekend at Gadaffi's'. Truly terrifying, almost possessed samples are met with busy and confused production and a subtle, alien tone. The ending makes this song for me though. Everything fades out and words are spoken but you don't know what they say. Sounds echo through some sonic space before the conclusion finally arrives. All these techniques accumulate to form 'Weekend at Gadaffi's' and I just love it!
'Bombs Not Rations', apart from a few references to Blacks Ops and Middle Earth and Meccano didn't actually impress me as much as some tracks on 'Mrdr Dth Kll' so I'm rather surprised that was the one chosen for a remix. The ambient backed sample of 'Lost In A Time Warp' and the noise filled, careless nature of murder expressed on 'War Daughters' both surpass 'Bombs Not Rations' in my opinion, but there you go. The psychological and dictatorial trauma displayed by the end of 'War Daughters' closes this EP on an incredible note. The presence and substance behind what is in the end only their debut is a simply astounding feat from Yunsloth and Bloodmoney as Dck Vnngt! 'Weekend at Gadaffi's' can be heard below, then grab all fourteen tracks for free from Uncommon Records over here!
