NYC Scene Report – The Dutch Kills, Kinlaw, & ChumHuffer

This week’s NYC Scene Report features The Dutch Kills recognizing “Cheap Love,” Kinlaw being prepared to “SPIT,” and ChumHuffer taking warmongers to the “Slaughterhouse.”

* Last month The Dutch Kills – an NYC-based rock band you may remember I recently recommended you see live – released a new single titled “Cheap Love,” and there’s plenty to love about it.

Discussing the grunge influenced song in a statement, frontwoman Julia Von Dutch said, “I wrote this song while in a relationship, and it was sort of the writing on the walls. This song says what I couldn’t at the time. It’s about teaching someone how to love, and feeling alone in a relationship. The dread of sleeping next to someone who has no idea how to comfort you.”

As with The Dutch Kills’ previous work, Julia once again impresses with her distinctively gravelly vocals that are right in line with the incredibly heavy music of the song.

There’s nothing cheap about “Cheap Love,” as it’s another winner from one of NYC’s most exciting bands on the rise.

* There’s something special, and remarkably powerful about NYC-based indie artist Kinlaw, and she’s once again putting her industrial music meets poetic lyrical delivery on display with her latest single, “SPIT.”

“SPIT” is off Kinlaw’s upcoming album, gut ccheck (that’s not a typo), which is due out this Friday via Bayonet Records. Discussing the song in a statement, she said, “‘SPIT’ starts off with guitar feedback. Controlled feedback is a theme in this one. Feedback can’t be controlled. Those two words don’t make a hell of a lot of sense next to each other, but it’s captured chaos that builds the foundation of this track.”

Captured chaos is a pretty awesome concept, and I can’t wait to hear more of it when gut ccheck comes out in two days. Until then, we can all enjoy “SPIT.”

* Looking for some punk rock with a purpose? Well, with their latest single, titled “Slaughterhouse,” punk rock outfit ChumHuffer have released what is quite possibly the most aggressive call for peace ever recorded.

The song is from their upcoming EP, Slaughterhouse Five, which is due out in May via their own DWY Records, and if your mind just wandered to author Kurt Vonnegut, you’re on the right path. The band’s Shawn Refuse explains, “Much like Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim, we feel like we’re stuck in time. The album explores the clash between what was, what could be, and what’s real, while also reflecting on the internal struggle to maintain a personal moral compass amidst all the chaos.”

The chaos, specifically the world being in a constant state of war, is what’s being addressed on “Slaughterhouse.” Discussing the song in a statement, the band’s Joe Dorane said, “When you step back and look at the world, it’s impossible not to feel buried by the endless barrage of conflict – whether it’s across the globe, or in our own minds. This record is our way of confronting that overwhelming reality. It’s both a critique, and a response to the ceaseless cycles of violence.”

Click play on “Slaughterhouse,” and get ready to rock out ridiculously hard for peace.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.