I'm in the middle of a noise war with my neighbor. He plays techno in the middle of the night and watches soccer at top volume when I want to sleep past 9 on a Sunday morning. Last week, on a stormy night, the thunder wasn't quick or loud enough to block him out even with all my windows open, so I put on Orphan's Aborted by Birth and turned my speakers at the wall. That did it.
He cranked up the nst-nst music, and I cranked up "Boat Driver," my favorite Orphan song, 'cus it's got a death knock like Slayer's "Reign in Blood." I pounded my fist against the wall with it until I couldn't hear anything except Orphan, not even the thunder after the flashes of lightning.
Aborted by Birth—666 copies were released on white vinyl—is a necessary weapon for this noise war, it's also one of the best albums Brooklyn has ever created. I'll defend that to anyone who feels like a fight. While I usually go straight to Sabbath's No.4, The Stooges' Funhouse or anything Boris, having something new and local shows these electronica jerks the fight is still on, and we will never go away. Brooklyn can get more electronic, add layers of synth and fake bass, but it'll always get shot down against simple, sludgy rock 'n' roll.
Enter Orphan. From Brooklyn. Duo. Brendan Majewski plays bass and screams. Speck Brown drums. I know what you're thinking. Brooklyn finally has its own Lightning Bolt! Yeah, that's what I originally thought as well, but Orphan appeals to my Melvins and Sabbath side more than anything that has ever come out of Rhode Island.
The debut on artist/writer Bob Nickas' new label, From the Nursery, proves the duo has expert marksmanship. Majewski's fuzzy bass riffs run on tangents while Brown's steady, demonic drumming holds it all together. She's a rhythm section unto herself, but she has to be. Majewski plays bass like a lead guitarist. The first track, "Alcoholica," sounds like Greg Ginn's distortion fused with one of Chuck Dukowski's aggressive bass leads. He's playing metal guitar leads on a bass.
"I grew up listening to punk and hardcore, so Born Against is my favorite band, and Unwound," says Brown. "As I got older, I got into metal."
You can sense the punk and metal influences in the songs, but it's still a hard sound to nail down; it warrants close listening.There aren't set choruses, though the riffs are like any good Sabbath riff: they always come back around before launching in a new direction.
The slow-burning "Mock" never repeats a line, while telling a confused story of failed love.The song slows to a crawl and then bashes back with the words: "I lacked your faith/ I lacked your ways/ for all my lies/ what/ sigh." It's easily one of the best moments on the album.
The words are as puzzling and creepy as the song titles. Two of the 10 tracks are titled "Penis Farm" and "Jane Fonda." In "Swan Blood," Majewski agonizingly screams: "Things are wrong here/ What's it like to be on time/ No one never waits/ Never waited here/ Act loud/ How loud."
Despite Brendan's chilling screams and dark bass, Orphan doesn't seem to care that much about its place in the larger city noise war going on in the minds of bored music journalists. "We just play what we think sounds good," says Brown. "We are just having fun."
> Orphan
May 9, Starr Space, 108-110 Starr St. (at Knickerbocker Ave.), Brooklyn, www.starrspace.net;10, $10
