ARSE is done screwing around. The Sydney trio – Dan Cunningham, Tim Watkins, and Party Dozen’s Jonathan Boulet – have just released the title track to their long-awaited new EP, Kaputt., out February 23. To launch the new tune, the band will play two live wire shows in Sydney and Melbourne this month.
Kaputt. was produced, mixed and mastered by Boulet at the band’s own Marrickville studio. Naturally, it hits like a sledgehammer and is equally indebted to classic ’80s hardcore as it is to the scorching psychedelia of Tropical Fuck Storm and King Gizzard at their thrashiest. It’s a major update on a sound that’s seen the band compared to the likes of IDLES, Metz, and Pigsx7.
“Kaputt. is probably my favourite song off the record, to the point where I couldn’t imagine calling the record anything else. It’s ridiculous, but also dead serious at the same time. Kind of like life, actually! It’s also a little tribute to a friend who’s no longer with us, and who I think about every day” – Dan Cunningham (vocals, guitar).
Kaputt. is the first taste of ARSE since 2019’s Safe Word EP, a five-track belter that put them on bills with punk royalty Cosmic Psychos, Amyl and the Sniffers, and These New South Wales. In under 20 minutes, Kaputt. skewers everything from climate change denialism to crooked law enforcement, and proves that ARSE has one of the tightest rhythm sections in Australian music right now. They aim far and wide with references – one track channels Diesel and Dust-era Midnight Oil, another sounds like if Flipper slapped the Stooges. Somehow, it all manages to sound like ARSE.
