"A stillness of nothing, a sadness of everything." I ask you this; what would it sound like if Charles Bukowski, Tom Waits & Alan Watts all crawled in to a broken drum machine, died and revived it with their ghostly powers? TWO TON SLOTH strives to answer that age old question every time they press record & do their g’damn thing.
TWO TON SLOTH is a collaborative effort between spoken word cult hero Brad Hamers on vocals & notorious cut & paste mad scientist PZ (Panzah Zandahz) on production. TWO TON SLOTH collectively merges Brad’s despondent poetic mutterings with PZ’s organic VCR sample-scapes to create sounds that errantly float somewhere in between hip hop and folk. Scoring the procession of tears slowly leaking from this (fashionable) fog we all inhabit, Brad and PZ come together to see things through, creating a strange and refreshing space to occupy. Their upcoming self-titled debut is case in point. From the occasional spooned guitar solo, to the mud-encrusted symphonic narratives, to the harsh & ramshackle bedroom fidelity consistent throughout, TWO TON SLOTH’S debut offers up a unique and inventive sound.
TWO TON SLOTH became a collective bleeding head in Upstate NY over the summer of 2004. Brad Hamers had previously established himself as one of NYC’s finest spoken word artists through numerous moving live performances, the publication of two successful poetry collections and by later venturing in to abstract hip hop as part of the revered duo Phlegm. PZ established himself as well through authoring an acclaimed (& controversial) remix/mash-up take on Radiohead (Me & THIS Army), his involvement with the Red Bull Music Academy & by founding the label Token Recluse Recordings in 2000. “It was our shared disdain towards society & confusion in regards to the future that made our collaboration work so well,” says PZ. “We made this album with a lot of the same fires burning in our bellies & the same sounds lurking behind our eyes.”
Their debut was recorded haphazardly over a two year period in at least ten different studios on two different coasts and collects many transitions, heartaches & meanderings. From start to finish Brad delivers some of his most glooming, antisocial, & satirical work to date. PZ sets the record straight right off the bat. He is much more then a “mash-up guy” or your average “beat-maker.” He is a diverse producer & an eclectic musician with his finger often on the weird trigger. For Brad, TWO TON SLOTH’S debut was simply an attempt to “field record the pacing dead moon’s lost grit.” PZ describes the album as “a satisfying and heart-felt “fuck you” to cars, routines & supermarkets, as well as a long & awkward hug with all that is beautiful in the world.” 2007 not only ushered in the completion of TWO TON SLOTH’S debut LP but an amazing European tour as well. The response from the road to both Brad & PZ’s past & present work was astonishing. Not to mention they’ve managed to establish themselves as a tough act to follow both outside & in the states.
With their self titled debut TWO TON SLOTH offers us all a new psalm for a dying time. It’s an attempt to furnish broken and contorted recliners for modern armchair philosophers void of pertinent myth and realizable dreams. It is a somber, sensitive and thoughtful swan song from two fugitive minds in dedication to those with war-torn sensibilities & “D.I.Y.” still racing thru their veins. It is provocative and bleeding…“with a top-heavy heart…banging on your frontal lobe for a way in.”
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