The title says it all: Ecca Vandal is interested in less. Less melody. Less construction. Less coherence. But there's more as well. More volume. More rhythmic dynamism. More spittle.

Ecca Vandal Looking for People to Unfollow (self-released)

As you can guess, I love both sides. Vandal takes the throb of 90s Touch and Go bands (preferably knobbed by Albini) and strips them down to the studs. She adds some interesting vocal processing (after listening to this album a couple times through, I'm still not sure what her real voice is--though I have a guess) and then starts the blender.

Punk? Sure. No wave? Kinda. Utterly modern and retro at the same time? Yes. Vandal betrays a few pop influences now and again, but generally those are deconstructed past the point of no return. "Vertical Worlds" is easily the catchiest song on the album, and it sounds like early Blondie played by the Jesus Lizard and sung with on utter disinterest in melody. It is a glorious shredder.

Where to go from here? I dunno. This is a scream so primal and disconnected that it's hard to imagine a more extreme expression of the idea. Then again, this album bears no resemblance to its predecessor (released nine years ago). In another nine years, one can only guess what might alight from her mind. I'll wait to find out. Quite the ripper.

Jon Worley