Black Pus "Terrestrial Seethings" LP

Black Pus is the guttural, raw, freeform project of singular drummer, vocalist, & artist Brian Chippendale. A heavy drum foundation and distorted electronics anchor Black Pus’ sound, and remain directly connected to the intensity of Chippendale’s legendary duo with Brian Gibson, Lightning Bolt. Recorded at Machines with Magnets by engineer Seth Manchester, Terrestrial Seethings is pure energy, pure Black Pus, capturing the precision, frenzy, and ecstatic performance in all its glory. After two decades playing and improvising, Chippendale’s imagination and curiosity continue to push his world of twisted joy in expressive new directions.

Chippendale’s approach to crafting music as Black Pus mirrors his restless and indomitable spirit as a creator. The core of the project is his daily and solitary practice of making music and art. The practice is as meditative and cathartic as it is inquisitive and spontaneous. “This art is a river of energy that I jump into and ride along with,” says Chippendale. “It’s not really music made to tell written stories. It’s energy music first and foremost.” The pieces that shape Terrestrial Seethings brim with his preternatural ability to unearth new ideas and explore them with abandon. Like his visual art, the pieces maintain a sense of cohesion as they cascade with brightly colored hues and murky, recursive textures. The album plays with a density and weight with a dynamic approach that gives space for more (relatively) spartan sections. Chippendale layers deceptively straightforward song structures with copious sludgy fuzz, his drum hits cutting through the thick wood like a machete. The record moves with bristled grooves that make its punctuated dramatic bursts all the more electrifying.