It’s always strange to hear music that’s doing something truly unique. Strange because it should always be that way, theoretically. Every band on earth is different from the next to some degree—different songs, styles, instruments, and countless other variables separating even side projects like Radiohead and Atoms for Peace. But they’re all playing with the same lump of clay, twisting sound into personal expression. So we get used to certain genres, expect certain types of music from a band, and generally wrap ourselves in a protective cocoon of expectations. With such a critical mass of music being released every day, it’s a defense mechanism that helps us wade through the muck.
So when something rips through all that, it can be a jarring experience. Deleted Scenes hasn’t invented a groundbreaking musical technology or found a way to taste sound—they work from a pretty conventional rock setup, guitars, drums, and bass intact. They take pages from Animal Collective and Man Man, with maybe a footnote or two from Dr. Dog, but those influences are blended up with a some psychedelia, sampling, and just a dollop of rage. “Stutter” is a rock and roll for the 23rd century, a tornado of screaming guitars and hiccuped vocals that makes no promises or apologies. Frontman Dan Scheuerman asks “does anybody really know what’s going on these days,” but he’s not looking for an answer. “Stutter” revels in its wild, unkempt sounds, returning us to the primal earth from whence we came and creating something wholly new in the process.