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ADULT. is not cooperating. For over 25 years, the dystopian Detroit synth-punk institution founded by Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller has embodied steadfast frustration, distrust, and apprehension. One might expect the edges to soften with time, but ADULT. is not interested in the comforts of legacy. The duo’s music has never sounded as visceral, urgent, and downright angry as it does on the culminating, uncompromising Kissing Luck Goodbye, their scorched-earth 10th LP and fourth with Dias Records. Built with upgraded gear and a whole new library of sounds, the material is crushingly dynamic, louder yet clearer, with Kuperus’ commanding delivery given greater prominence in the mix, outlining an arsenal of vivid, caustic calls, chants, and musings. Laughter, whether in the lyrics or as a possessed presence, serves as a leitmotif that speaks to the menacing absurdity of modern times. “THE CHAOS IS WHAT THEY WANT,” she sings on “R U 4 $ale”, doubling as a declaration of intent: to meet a burning world of greed and disarray with defiant, masterfully assembled chaos. “You have two choices in this hellscape we’re living in right now, which is either fight or be depressed,” says Miller. “Either one is okay. But, you know, the choice was simple.”
ADULT. is known for high-stakes catharsis on stage, and recently deployed their back catalog of bass guitar songs from the 2000s, retracing the prescient Anxiety Always era partially out of necessity given the temperature of today’s political and technological dread. The response was instant and palpable: “We were in Paris, and the kids were stage diving. And I was like, this is rad. This is kind of the energy I want to get back into,” Kuperus says. The epiphany coincided with a series of setbacks — Kuperus’ bouts with chronic vertigo, the loss of their close friend and collaborator Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb, whom the album is dedicated to — all made profoundly worse under the looming regime. “We were stuck in the mud for quite a while after the election,” Miller says. “We had all the concepts, but we would just be like, ‘What’s the point?’” With failing studio air conditioners and dead car batteries (their sacred space for listening back to recordings), they often joked that the album might be cursed. Kuperus adds, “We’re just like everything’s breaking. We’re breaking. We’re broken.” The sentiment didn’t stick, however, as they found themselves ultimately too super-charged by fury to sit still. From watching Musk’s disgusting nazi salute to seeing their community struggle under the new regime to waiting months for a tariff-inflated replacement subwoofer, the vibe heading into Kissing Luck Goodbye was four middle fingers pointed straight up.
Rather than retreat, they focused on the process, revisiting their setup, complete with their first new mics in 20 years. They obsessed over textures, amassing a massive sample library taken from old thrift-store albums, previously used and unused ADULT. ingredients and new field recordings, running myriad items, including the buzz of shop vacs, through various pedals. Pause Kissing Luck Goodbye at any moment, and you’re likely to count a dozen things happening at once in strange, dizzying, and dissonant harmony. Together with producer Nolan Gray, whose involvement resulted from a chance encounter (he happened to be the host of the short-term rental property where the two stayed — maybe there is still some luck, after all), the band pushed themselves harder than ever before to build a world with this record.
Songs took shape from unusual places: “No One Is Coming” got its tempo from a skipping record they captured through a cell phone during a bnb stay for Kuperus’ 50th birthday. A bassline-driven industrial anthem that turns feedback into melody, the track attacks inaction in the face of fascism — “NO ONE IS COMING TO YOUR RESCUE” is as simple as that: the resistance will not be provided by someone else. “None of It’s Fun” blitzes with breathless urgency, high-speed glissades, and pointed lines like “OH I AM TEARING MY GUTS OUT / LOOK AT ME…DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS AMUSING?”
The closer, “Destroyers”, was the last song they recorded and encompasses the techniques ADULT. has learned not just throughout the making of Kissing Luck Goodbye, but across their quarter-century as a pioneering collaborative project. A straightforward bassline and kick collide with pulsing mantras, then becomes completely saturated and cacophonous. Their younger selves might have let the song destroy itself, but here, they were able to steady the volume throughout the extremes, making way for a poignant, parting a cappella:
WE PAY THE PRICE FOR
THOSE IN POWER
EXPLOITING YOU
EXPLOITING ME
CONSUMING YOU
CONSUMING ME
SICK SICK SICK
SICKENING
IT IS US
THAT ARE DEVOURED
BY EVERYTHING
I WILL EAT YOUR HATE
Spike Hellis is the LA-based brainchild of Cortland Gibson and Lainey, circa 10/31/2019.
While gearing up to begin touring and promoting their first release, they watched in disbelief as themes from their EP, aptly titled Crisis Talk, seeped into reality in the form of a widespread global pandemic. Instead of playing a release show, they put the tape out digitally while under lockdown in their Downtown Los Angeles apartment. With tour abruptly canceled, they’ve immediately gotten to work on a forthcoming album.
Incorporating a wide range of elements from industrial, new beat and techno, to freestyle, electro, and EBM, their dark, experimental pop is sure to make you move to the pain. It wouldn’t be EBM if the overtones of manipulation, submission, and suffering weren’t prominent and here they certainly are. However, one of the many things that separates Spike Hellis from their contemporaries is the clever sampling and sound design. Their sequences are dynamically crafted and move effortlessly between all hard-dance subgenres.
Spike Hellis delivers from every angle. Primed for the after-hours warehouse dungeon, they utilize heavy amounts of fog and strobes timed perfectly to their live set. Perhaps you’ll feel threatened or slightly disoriented, nonetheless, you will be thrust into their environment. While still in their infancy, they’ve managed to turn heads as they cut their teeth in the LA underground. Blasting their bleak outlook and spreading their gospel of disenchantment and sarcasm, Spike Hellis announces their arrival.
Like flossing with razor wire.
Smile for the world.
