Xetas
The Redeemer (12XU)Fresh punk with all of the intensity and none of the cliches, the unusual attack of Xetas sparks angular riffs combusting into melodic hooks – all sped into the red by overdriven bass and slick-wristed percussion. The local trio, no relation to the narco-terrorists whose name strikes fear south of the border, exhibits proper anger on this debut LP from Matador head Gerard Cosloy’s local one-two-fuck-you imprint, but its disarming emotional intimacy draws you in. “If you love someone, let them know. It doesn’t always show!” belts power-throat David Petro amid serpentine noise licks on the title cut. Likewise, former Foreign Mothers frontwoman Kana Harris flexes unabashed affection on midtempo serenade “The Fake,” which reads like a letter to a mentor: “You’re righteous and you’re real and so many other things that I could never be.” The dead rat pack that formed last year knows when to get ugly, too, harnessing a shitstorm of weird aggression on ominous thumper “The Butcher” – Fugazi on PCP. Blood darkens the water on sludge-skuzz closer “The Deep,” as Harris and Petro take turns shrieking “drowning!” with enough wretchedness to spill a crust punk’s 40-oz.
This article appears in April 3 • 2015.