Cruddy by name, not by nature. 

Cruddy’s White Polka Dot Dress is a smoothly progressive, well-mixed electronic soundscape. Starting with a bass-line like a futuristic Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit it opens up into a dark landscape of noise that flows around you, gradually building then falling away. It’s a piece of art with your ears the canvas, the samples the brush, the music the paint, the song the picture… you get the metaphor. 

For a comparison, it’s akin to the feelings-presented-as-tracks of Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts I – IV.  All that’s missing are the hordes of now-grown post-angsty teen fans. 

But then it wasn’t the music that drew fans to buy Ghosts; it was the established name and the “Goth” cred Reznor had accumulated since Pretty Hate Machine. Ghosts was far removed from the NIN people knew at the time, the time before the soundtracks with Atticus Ross, and I’ve always felt that Ghosts by another band wouldn’t sound so “sweet”.

So, if not angsty teens, to whom shall Cruddy be best addressed? 

Audiophiles I guess I’d have to say. All of the advertising material for Cruddy alludes to the mysterious GB3.0.4 console, though as many photographers and men before me have said, it’s not the machinery it’s how you use it. They use it well.

Cruddy is more of a producer than a band. Their music exists in this almost genre less void. It appeals to my alt-rock sensibilities yet belongs somewhere outside that sphere. Somewhere outside of the modern world. Beyond it.

You’re appealing to a niche market there, and I feel this music suits a wider listenership. A larger niche. More than just friends and family. But then, while throwing a mumble rapper over top of the well-crafted track would morph White Polka Dot Dress into a pop sensation, it would also destroy what makes the song great.

As a passion project, Cruddy is great. As a show of the producer’s talent, ability, and honed ear, it’s perfect. As a radio-friendly unit-shifter, not so much. You can’t keep your artistic integrity and get rich too, but I’d rather hear some great sound-art than the silence of a rich former-artist anyway.

Cruddy has subscribed to the track-a-month model, a product of the digital revolution that kids these days claim as their own. White Polka Dot Dress is March’s release. You can find it next to the November – February tracks on the Cruddy Bandcamp now. The other tracks, similar in their inclusion of a mixed spoken-word sample, are in the same vein as White Polka Dot Dress, though play with a different tone and atmosphere. They’re worth a listen too.

• 1
  Head Like A Hole
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Fraser Ross
• 4
  Fur Patrol
• 5
  Michelle Rounds
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  The Boondocks
• 8
  Late to Chelsea
• 9
  Springloader
• 10
  Baconfoot

• 
  Nadia Reid @ Loons, Lyttelton - 16/11/2024
• 
  Pull Down The Sun @ Franks Bar, Whanganui - 15/11/2024
• 
  Elidi @ Franks Bar, Whanganui - 15/11/2024
• 
  Infinity Ritual @ Franks Bar, Whanganui - 15/11/2024

• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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