Sidetracked have been a Tacoma, WA hardcore staple forever. For over 15 years, they’ve been putting out tons of records, tapes, and splits of fast, pissed hardcore and are back with Perpetual Dissent, a new tape out now on Alternatives Label.
The 10-song tape, with an average song length under 15 seconds, is what we’ve come to expect from the three piece. Imagine if you were to take the No Comment “Downsided” seven-inch, cut it up into a thousand pieces, and then only glued a hundred of those pieces back together. Now, that’s not to say this is a standard issue fastcore record lifting parts by the progenitors of genre, because it’s absolutely not. It is entirely its own thing, while maintaining all of the raging pace and energy from its forefathers.
Sidetracked have always found a way to thread the needle of catchiness in an incredibly abrasive style of music. 12 seconds is rarely long enough for something to stick with you, but the second track, “Outnumbered," may be the best example of that. It reminds me of the Dropdead side of their split with Look Back and Laugh, blisteringly fast but never really punishing.
In a sea of chaotic starts and stops with no parts being played more than twice in a row, vocalist/guitarist Jay Tichy ties the group of songs together by stating the song title at the beginning of the song over stick clicks. Jay also ends each track with the final lyrics being sent through a delay and distortion until the next song starts.
Physical copies of the Perpetual Dissent cassette are available for order here.
Tagged: sidetracked
