Circolo Vizioso - Choppy (self-released)

In an age obsessed with poise and polish, glitz and glamour in the arts, and in music in particular, it is great to stumble across a song like “Choppy” and a band such as Circolo Vizioso. Why? Because they are everything opposed to such attitudes. Turn on any TV show, listen to any mainstream album, watch any film, and it is easy to see what, to them, must be an alien world, one where autotune and CGI, photoshopping, and the search for media perfection is tantamount—a poor simulacrum of the real world that lurks beneath.

And so the aptly named “Choppy,” with its DIY ethics, its abrasive, post-grunge vibes, its relentless motorik groove, its brilliantly and wilfully unpolished deliveries, its raw vocals and almost violent dynamic changes, come along like a breath of fresh air. Although, ironically, it feels like it is the product of days, weeks, even, holed up in a room, claustrophobic, sweated over, dark and anything but refreshing.

But that, of course, is its beauty; it is music made in a place that doesn’t see the light of day. It is angry and angsty, a sonic ball of frustration aimed at the world at large. And for all its rough edges, though perhaps because of them, the song is cathartic, a taste of the actual sound of the grassroots music makers, a reminder of just how false the world we are offered through advertising, media, marketing, branding, and the like, is. A timely, sonic wake-up call? Yes, indeed.

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Verrueckt album order
Isolation EP