Charger Port is back, baby, and just in time. The last time we heard from the project was Megaphone Underwater, on which Hunter Johnson (of Terror Cell and recently THIN as well) dished out a brand of noise that proved difficult to describe, but easy to appreciate. Inspired in part by 2020’s wave of heinous cop crimes, it’s a transportive experience to this day that’s liable to have listeners flashing back to the tumultuous times of lockdowns, riots, and visions of a future without toilet paper.
On one hand, we’d like to think of those times as behind us, even if they’re not. Really the only thing that’s different is we are not sheltering in place so we can spread our germs without remorse. There are still massive injustices being perpetrated by powers that be on every level. There are still riots, if not more of them. Toilet paper is available, but like everything else at the market, it’s increased a good 200-300% in price. In short, everything is still pretty fucked.
Of course, it’s not all bad. If you are frustrated with all of the above and more, at least you can take some solace in this – Charger Port and Serling‘s split EP I Don’t Watch Sports Anymore is here for you. Check it out below:
Charger Port actually takes some legit swings at math rock on this one, and to fantastic results. You can tell the tension, calculation, and delivery are all still there, but this time using a palette of furious guitars and drums. Serling, Maine’s premier Twilight Zone inspired metallurgists, also knock things out of the park with their impossibly detuned guitars and visceral screams. In fact, it’s worth pointing out what a perfect pairing this record turned out to be – not that we’d ever doubt either party, but the overall cohesion of the record when listening from front to back is nothing short of a home run.
At a time where entertainment can feel extracurricular, it’s records like this that remind us of the difference between entertainment and art. Art is essential, and often, cathartic. While there’s probably an art to tossing / kicking different sized balls around in various uniforms for insane amounts of money, we’d say that classifies more as entertainment, if not an outright orchestrated distraction. So yeah – we don’t watch sports anymore either.