When musicians with decades in the heavy underground pool their efforts, the results usually go one of two ways. Some fall back on the comfortable habits of their flagship projects, while others use the cover of a new name to indulge their stranger impulses. Gatta Morta appears geared toward the latter. The new four piece brings together Buzz Osborne of Melvins and JD Pinkus of Butthole Surfers, joined by drummer Coady Willis and singer Clinton Jacob. Together, they have confirmed the release of their debut full length record, Immaculator, which arrives February 12th via Ipecac Records.
To mark the announcement, the band shared an early taste of the record titled Music for Furbies. The nod to nineties animatronic toys introduces an irreverent mood, proving that the participants have lost none of their taste for the absurd. It offers an offbeat first glimpse of what happens when noise rock, sludge, and psych punk veterans lock into a room together, teasing a playful attitude without showing the entire hand.
The pedigree across the lineup runs deep. Osborne has guided Melvins through heavy, unorthodox terrain for more than forty years. Pinkus spent decades infusing Butthole Surfers with his particular brand of chaotic psychedelia. Behind the kit sits Willis, whose history includes tenures in Big Business and High on Fire as well as his own stretches in Melvins. That previous working relationship between Willis and Osborne gives Gatta Morta a tried and tested rhythmic foundation, anchoring the bottom end with players who already know how to lock together at punishing volume.
Instead of having Osborne or Pinkus take over the microphone, the group chose to hand lead vocal duties to Clinton Jacob of mr.phylzzz. That decision pulls the material away from standard supergroup territory. Placing an outside voice over the riffs engineered by Osborne and Pinkus prevents Gatta Morta from reading as an outtake reel or a casual retread of their primary bands, helping carve out an identity of its own from the very start.
Issuing Immaculator through Ipecac Records makes complete sense for an outfit assembled from these parts. The independent label has spent decades serving as a haven for unclassifiable, challenging heavy music, operating with little regard for standard commercial radio formats. It provides the band with the room to follow strange creative detours wherever they lead. Come February, listeners will see how this particular collision of underground veterans holds together across a full record.
