Chat Pile - King

I have now written about Chat Pile, Oklahoma City’s noise rock upstarts, a few times. Their brand of extreme music borrows more from the noisy punk rock of Big Black than it does heavy metal. And much like Big Black, Chat Pile uses their music to examine the decrepitude of smalltown America, highlighting the suffering and the vulgarity that can often accompany life there. Shortly after the success of their first full length album, God’s Country, in 2022, Chat Pile released a split record with Kansas City’s Nerver, called Brothers in Christ. On the split, Chat Pile experimented with sounds indebted to alternative rock bands like Slint and Guide by Voices, while not losing their trademark gloom.

Of the two Chat Pile tracks on Brothers in Christ, I was most taken with “King”. It is a song that employs the alternating quiet/loud dynamics of bands like the Pixies to great effect. The song starts with a pleasantly catchy guitar riff, rhythmic drumming, and singer Raygun Busch woundedly slurring the statement “It's probably what you're thinking.” The guitar fades into the background and the quiet rumble of bass guitar takes over, with Busch softly mumbling:

“But I've never been to

A place like this

Not even in my dreams

Not even in dreams”

The pleasant guitar riff comes back and Busch returns to “It's probably what you're thinking,” before bassist Stin takes over riff duty and Busch transitions to a pained yelp of “I don’t care” on repeat. A squealing guitar line enters overtop and Busch starts shouting:

“What makes you

Alive

What makes me

Alive

What's the meaning of this

What's the meaning of this

What's the meaning of this

What's the meaning of this”

Much of the instrumentation temporarily falls away, save the rumble of a bassline, and Busch defeatedly mutters:

“Cause even at my best

It don't compare

Somеthings that used to shine

Don't compare”

In the final two minutes of the song, Chat Pile takes the established structure and distorts and mangles it, until Busch is positively screaming “It's probably what you're thinking” until the song ends. 

The song manages to be a very compelling repetition of a few elements, really dialing on the misery of the character Busch is portraying, the vulnerability and pain on clear display. My descriptions do not do it justice. It needs to be heard.

Buy Chat Pile’s music here.