My first listen of Sludge City was as I was on a 9 hour drive home. Not having heard any releases from Cacophony Kid before, I was unsure of what to expect, but entirely prepared to dive in head first. Within the 9 hour journey I had listened to Sludge City no less than a dozen times. With a runtime just short of 22 minutes between 10 tracks, Sludge City says exactly what it set out to, and does so in such a way that you’ll find yourself consistently going to replay the album-just as I found myself to be doing.
Within Sludge City you find Nick Roswell, better known as Cacophony Kid, setting the stage for a world fueled with rage, pain, and despair within a fallen capitalistic society. The first two opening tracks, “Prologue” and “Welcome To Sludge City”, immerse the listener in near-uncomfortable moments of dark synth sounds accompanied by wailing instrumentals and a heavy-hitting drumline. Jumping directly into the next track “Drowning in the Swamp” Nick spares nothing to exclaim both instrumentally and lyrically the hardships of surviving in a capitalistic society, stating “corporate greed/that’s all you need/abuse the workers, pay yourselves, no one gives a fuck, who cares?”.
ABOVE: Cover Artwork for single “Drowning in the Swamp”
Although this record is set within a fictional world, it is near impossible to not connect and relate what is being shared to conditions and situations within our current real world. These themes of struggle, hardship, and dissonance continue seamlessly throughout the album, delving into more personal aspects of those states as well. The following track “Analog Horrors”, which features Columbus Ohio musician Superdestroyer, questions the listener on their own contribution to personal and societal collapse with lyrics such as “I drift off to sleep scrolling scenes of our slow collapse/to distract myself from work in the morning/do you really understand how dark that is?”. “Analog Horror” is an instrumental contrast to the previous tracks, with its darker lyrics hidden between layers of up-beat synth and a bouncy rhythm. It is also the shortest track on the album, clocking in at a cool 1 minute 1 second in length, a drastic difference between the track that follows next-”You Can’t Feed Your Family With Square Waves”. At 3 minutes 34 seconds long and featuring Rosie (of The Losing Team, Party’s Over, and Checkmate), “You Can’t Feed Your Family With Square Waves” continues the bouncy rhythm of the previous track after a short spoken-word intro instructing listeners to “relax/sit tight/work hard/enjoy the ride”. This track touches on the repetitiveness of a daily capitalistic life and what those above will do to keep everyone running in their wheels. Lyrics such as “to feed your family/pay your bills/work all day/till you get ill/we’ll work your hands till your blood spills” and “you can try to win but never will/get busy workin” are presented in cheerful melodies, portraying the dismissiveness and avoidant tendencies of individuals who would rather stay distracted and near dissociated, while being sung over harsh-synth instrumentals and gentle piano.
ABOVE: musician Nick Roswell, known as Cacophony Kid
Listeners are then led into the interlude track of the album, “Hopeless”. A midway point of the record, this interlude track creaks and moans both instrumentally and lyrically to seemingly immerse the listener in the uncomfortable feelings of ignorance and vulnerability. “Hopeless (Interlude)” seamlessly dives listeners into the next track, “Data Transfer”, which prepares listeners for what was released as the last single of Sludge City-the 8th track of the album, titled “Dream Sequence, Pt.2”. Ballad-like piano and string melodies are accompanied with lyrics touching on existentialism and anxiety before delving into a slow build-up and release set over a voicemail where listeners are presented with someone attempting to communicate their struggles to another. The end of the track is an all-out crescendo of instrumentals and vocals encapsulating the listener in a body of sounds before coming to a quiet close.
ABOVE: Cover artwork for single “Dream Sequence, Pt. 2”
This large musical moment leads us into the next track, which is another of force and power. Titled “Rats in the Sewer” and featuring New York band Ultra Deluxe, track 9 touches on the struggles of unification between individuals under a stronger, deeper authoritative force. Lyrics such as “we’re all just rats in the sewer scurrying quietly/tryin to make it to the city from the cesspool underneath” and “correct the stances and fight reaction/its journey for the collective/break barriers and circumvent them” shout at the listener over instrumentals of pounding drums and melodic synth, sure to easily capture attention. “We’re gonna burn it down together/and build something unique” sing Nick and Max on the last line, providing a sense of unification and power in the listener. Sludge City closes with a track titled “Goodbye All…”, with lyrics simply stating “I think/everything’s great/and I think/we’ll be okay”. While the lyrics sung at the listener may seem hopeful, the off-beat and at times harsher instrumentals still portray the broken and disillusioned world the album and listener are set in. Overall each track portrays exactly what Cacophony Kid wanted to in its own individual way while still being an incredibly cohesive project.
Sludge City is certainly set to cement itself a place in the scene and give more room to grow for future Cacophony Kid projects. This synth-punk record is not one to miss and will find itself on many listener’s end of year lists.
ABOVE: Cover artwork for the album Sludge City by Cacophony Kid. Photo provided by Lonny Starsky, edited by Nick Roswell
You can currently listen to singles off Sludge City “Goodbye All…”, “Drowning in the Swamp”, and “Dream Sequence, Pt. 2” on streaming platforms. Sludge City by Cacophony Kid is set to be released on 4/20/24 via Reply Guy Records on streaming platforms and cassette. To stay up to date with the release and any future endeavors of Cacophony Kid’s, you can find links to social media accounts below.
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6UxHGlbum0IIKw8Stwh8EM
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CacoKidOH (@CacoKidOH)
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cacokidoh/ (@cacokidoh)
REPLY GUY RECORDS: https://twitter.com/replyguyrecords (@replyguyrecords)
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