Billiam The Letter W & the Numeral B EP
Melbourne’s BILLIAM is back with another EP, his fourth release this year. There’s nothing new here, and any of the four tracks could have appeared on any of the project’s previous efforts. If you’ve enjoyed any of his other records, you’ll dig this. “New Wave” and “Houston We Have Rock” are full of fuzzy three-chord punk, battered with synthesizers and left scrambling to catch up to the lo-fi hi-hats working overtime in the background. The vocals sound like they were recorded through a cell phone inside of a cave, which kind of ruins it for me, although repeating the phrase “Houston, we have rock” 16 times in 54 seconds brought a smile to my face. The B-side is more mid-tempo and features the highlight of the EP for me, the closing “Essential Feedstock Oils,” where they repeat the word “record” 27 times in 90 seconds. Heavy SPARKS vibes with a bedroom charm. It ain’t for me, but fans of 1-800-MIKEY and GEE TEE will eat it up.
