To Smithereens

VINYL FORMAT. Gay Beast formed in mid-2005 during a fit of anxiety towards Midwestern passive aggression, as an attempt to make music that was queer in both composition and aesthetic. Wielding a battery of drums, scraped and hammered guitars, chanted vocals, retro-future synths, saxophone, and other electronics, the trio builds songs that adjoin complexity and catchiness in a space inhabited by both abrasion and tunefulness. With releases on DNT, Gilgongo, and Skin Graft, Gay Beast has garnered a reputation for uniqueness on the rock fringe, their sound being both too weird for the stereotype of a "gay band" and "too gay" for the noise-rock set. Upon examination of the influence blender, one finds remnants of Devo, Captain Beefheart, equatorial pop-rock from the '60s and '70s, No-Wave, and feminist theory. This concoction, delivered via Gay Beast's unique political approach to composition, is explored heavily on their third album To Smithereens.