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Dead Horse

by BUMMER

supported by
hellokittysatan
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hellokittysatan one of the most brutal and relentless albums i've ever heard. it's as if someone is yelling at the top of their lungs in your face for twenty eight minutes, and it's beautiful. it's so crushing and heavy, i honestly can't get enough. Favorite track: Quadruple ZZ Top.
Name's Dalton
Name's Dalton thumbnail
Name's Dalton By Paul Bunyan’s ginormous balls, this album is Nirvana’s Bleach after surviving a meth lab explosion. A disgusting mess, all blown out, a heap of still-smoking, twisted metal and caked with clumps of scorched crank and charred bits of flesh.

C. Frey
C. Frey thumbnail
C. Frey Bummer is here to kick you (and Bruce Springsteen) in the dick. Midwestern discomfort, straight from KCMO. Heavy, dirty, pissed as fuck, with a swinging, neckbreaking beat.
Do not sleep on this! Favorite track: E1M1.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Dead Horse available in an extremely limited quantity of Black Vinyl LPs. Includes a digital download card, and it packaged in a re-sealable

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dead Horse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $22 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Cover features artwork by painter Joan Lalucat Vehil, with additional design work by Caroline Eck.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dead Horse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    8 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

  • BUMMER - Dead Horse Shirt 2XL
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    Printed by Holy Mountain, red shirt featuring design in white

    Sold Out

  • BUMMER - Dead Horse Shirt S-XL
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    Printed by Holy Mountain, red shirt featuring design in white

    Sold Out

  • Limited Edition Color [gray with blue]
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition gray with blue vinyl, cover features artwork by painter Joan Lalucat Vehil, with additional design work by Caroline Eck. Packaged with download card.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dead Horse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
i fantasize about driving to douglas county a quiet place where i can douse myself in gasoline i am openly contributing to the opioid crisis for selling oxy that i get for my bad neck / hey you get fucked you lose you suck who’s next? you’re up show me what you’ve got / and i wait patiently for my name to be called / i wish that i could create my own set of physics to hurl this earth into the suns of distant solar systems i am openly contributing to the opioid crisis but make no money cause i’m too busy abusing it / i can’t shake off this feeling of something inside me clawing out / just maybe it’s time to quit when you wake up next to the sink just maybe it’s time to quit when i wake up next to you
2.
breathe in patience sit hold it and release pause / do you feel it? when the air sits still and your heart slows to a stop as the heat swallows you / facing that big empty where i dream of you / just pacing in cadence / and nothing will save me from the dust / i’m facing that big empty where i dream of you where i dream of you / watch your back take what you want time and time again the dust seeps through my lungs and sweats out my skin
3.
i guess it’s true what they’ve been saying bout you look what they took what the blue light did to you / can’t seem to get an answer on why i’m stuck here baked in cancer wading through my filth i thought you knew i’m famished and my brain feels damaged and my eyes are dry like the mojave desert / and to suffer is to live without relief to have everything in life but peace
4.
E1M1 02:18
i have seen a light just past the hillside machinery so bright piercing through moonlight / what has one beseen to speak such blasphemy i can see a light it invades my dreams at night floating through the sky hues of unknown sight / am i alone in these glories i have seen? the glow of these unholy machines? / i have seen a light it lurks at night and i start to feel it’s pull i’ve seen a light it shines so bright burning holes in my eyes was i’ve seen a light / to see colors never once witnessed by man to see life extend it’s other hand
5.
Donkey Punch 02:20
take my insides, tear them out, crawl inside me, carve your route / i feel fine, just waiting here to die i’m all right, just one more day alive / life’s less peachy, underwater. with no air / sleep, endless sleep i hear it calling me, i hear it taunting me (i feel it take me with i think i’ll rest my head and) sleep
6.
Juice Pig 02:23
why does it ache all the damn time? watching the minutes scrape by cashing out pennies and dimes waiting for someone to call stuck like a pig / i am not well stuck in a sea of pastel i am primary cell one use, one great swell / i can’t fake it, i cannot take it this fake wallow, the constant crawl / when i look past the ledge i think how easy it could be i’ve got skeletons in my closet and they’re fucking scared of me / unrechargeable / (i am not well) i am primary cell i need help (stuck like a pig stuck in a sea soon to be so free) i am (stuck like a pig) primary cell (stuck in the sea) one use (soon to be free) quell.
7.
Kid Spock 02:42
pause readings show nothing out of the ordinary until i shift my gaze to the supply room doors / insufficient hydrogen fuel / the alarm blares as i stumble upon this girl not much older than 18 years old on the homeworld / insufficient hydrogen fuel / so i lead her to the airlock to impose frontier law / “i’m sorry. i’m so sorry, but you must understand...” / we will both die it's cold hard math
8.
once again the soil has produced no yield / the dust is permeating, black mud begins to clog my lungs whatever the sun leaves you, locusts will take / no such thing as fertile land round these parts / black clouds they seem to tumble over the stretch of these great plains watching the land discipline us for man's ignorance / dust is factored in / crops have failed livestock’s dead think i’m next
9.
False Floor 03:02
hit that sinking feeling to course my veins with liquid death shame reserving nothing thinking it’s funny to off myself / i’ve let myself down i’ve seem to fallen down back to square one / defensive systems seem less efficient with no one there left to protect and you sit and you float away from all this / bliss is silence, quiet and dead / humans seem to destroy all things once seen to be cherished by me
10.
guess what i’m not having no fun trekking through the same old mud i think that i’ve been hearing voices again / it’s just one small thing, compiling into something obscene feels like my life fucking sucks lately / guess what i’m not having no fun trekking through the same old mud i think that i’ve been hearing voices again / it’s just one more thing, compiling into something obscene feels like my life fucking sucks lately / i feel the push and the pull, like waves against the shore the levee cannot hold this i watch the structure break, as water dissipates and i feel at home / wake up, i feel the push and the pull, like waves against the shore the levee cannot hold this shake off, i watch the structure break, as water dissipates to feel nothing at all / it’s just one small thing, building into something obscene feels like my life fucking sucks lately / it’s just one more thing one more fucking god damn thing and the phone rings one more thing one more fucking god damn thing one more thing
11.
Rareware 02:51
i smell blood that metallic taste of something never loved and i feel it’s touch / wait for the pressure to arise let it normalize til tension begins to suffocates this room of light dragging my weight up this hill to say i should leave / i smell blood that metallic taste of something never loved and i feel it’s touch the swift release of pain sent from above / welp big sell cause truth is that i never loved you

about

Kansas City trio BUMMER mirror the absurdity of modern life with a balance of dark humor, dejected nihilism and righteous fury. Their music spills out in torrents of skull-crushing riffs, gargantuan bass and caustic howls delivered at breakneck speed with gleeful abandon. Following their split 7” with longtime friends The Body which teased a more focused, lean sound for the group, Dead Horse hones BUMMER’s auditory desolation and scathing gaze to laser-point precision. In eleven short vignettes the trio lay waste to everything in their path, penning a vitriolic overview of life in the American Midwest, a surprising blend of one-star Trip Advisor review and insightful cultural critique.

BUMMER’s searing music and self-deprecating sense of humor are steeped in their surroundings. Born and raised in Kansas City, vocalist/guitarist Matt Perrin elaborates: “These songs are influenced by how empty and miniscule life in Kansas can be and the stories that come from it.” From the opioid epidemic to the dust bowl and extraterrestrial encounters, themes recur of entrapment and failed escapes. On the aptly titled “Barn Burner (You Boys Quit Whippin’ Those Whips),” Perrin grapples with a deep-set disillusionment with his hometown atop blistering, splintered riffs. The wreckingball groove of “I Want To Punch Bruce Springsteen in the Dick''s lurches and swings like a pendulum of pure contempt, lamenting environmental devastation ravaged upon Kansas from years of over-farming and overproduction (alongside less subtle messages about their feelings towards The Boss). “Quadruple ZZ Top” repurposes FDR’s infamous quote about the Dust Bowl’s destruction “What the sun left, the grasshoppers took” in a corrosive whirlpool that thrashes in every direction. “E1M1” turns the group’s gaze skyward, inspired by the alleged repeated UFO sightings reported by a 19th century mill worker, while “Kid Spock” draws from Tom Goldwin’s science fiction short “The Cold Equations”. Finding little respite even in the usual escape of space and science fiction, Dead Horse’s relentless bludgeon brings into focus the harsh realities of the American dream and the places left behind by the ravages of capitalism.

In spite of its often weighty subject material and darker textures, Dead Horse is unapologetically fun. Written during lockdown in the trio's practice space and recorded with Justin Mantooth at Westend Recording Studios in Kansas City, Dead Horse was written as a more collective endeavour than the band’s previous outings. It captures the sheer ecstasy and blunt force of the group’s live shows in greater clarity than ever before. The immediately intoxicating “JFK Speedwagon” sets the tempo for the album, hurtling through Mike Gustafson’s thundering bass breaks and guest vocals from Sean Ingram of Coalesce (who also features on “Juice Pig”), providing a perfect counterpoint to Perrin’s acidic guitar and desperate shout. “I Want To Punch…” and “E1M1” take the foot of the pedal for a split second, cruising through caveman mosh and pummelling sludge. On “Donkey Punch”, drummer Sam Hutchinson’s hypnotic groove and Perrin’s freewheeling guitars threaten to spiral out of control at any moment, pushing up to fever pitch as Perrin trades tortured howls with Portrayal of Guilt’s Matt King. “Magic Cruel Bus” lulls the listener into a false sense of security with a lilting blues guitar opening before erupting into rolling waves of distortion.

Dead Horse is a decisive statement from a band at the height of their powers, a masterclass in eviscerating hooks and incisive takedowns. With their Thrill Jockey debut album, BUMMER's unflinching reminder of just how gruelling life can be is coupled with a cathartic riff driven explosion of energy. BUMMER offers an escape and a solution: headbang through the bad times.

credits

released October 1, 2021

Matt Perrin - Guitar/Vocals
Mike Gustafson - Bass
Sam Hutchinson - Drums

Produced by BUMMER and Justin Mantooth
Engineered and Mixed by Justin Mantooth at Westend Recording Studios in Kansas City, KS
Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering in Portland, OR
Painting “Sense Titol” is an original work by Joan LaLucat Vehil and is licensed for use
Insert, back cover, and center labels designed by Caroline Eck
Inner Sleeve Photo by Skylar Cowdry
All songs written by BUMMER

Additional vocals by Sean Ingram on “Juice Pig” and “JFK Speedwagon”
Additional vocals by Matt King on “Donkey Punch”

Sample from “E1M1” and “False Floor” Is taken from “Fear and Desire (1953)”
Samples from “I Want to Punch Bruce Springsteen in the Dick” and “Rareware” are taken from “The Man With the Golden Arm (1955)”


All Voice Samples On This Record Are Sourced from Public Domain Films

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BUMMER Kansas City, Missouri

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