The first album in 19 years from the noise rock duo Royal Trux is a confident return to form. Over White Stuff’s eleven tracks the scuzzy mix of distortion, breathy vocals, wild guitar lines, beats, found sounds and toss-everything-in-the-pot style is perfectly suited for this modern age of music.
The duo of Jennifer Herrema (vocals, moog, guitar, melodica, sticks and stones, pots and pans) and Neil Hagerty (vocals and guitarist) made a name for themselves in the late 80’s and 90’s with their fuck it all underground offerings before singing with Virgin Records. The duo has always wallowed in the messiness of The Rolling Stones Villa Nellcôte basement, licking the filth from the floor before blasting it through broken speakers.
The title tracks opening substances push the grungy rock menace with layers of sound directly into the veins while the effects kick in for “Year Of The Dog”, ramping up the burning glam rock strut to 11, displaying electro blasts and flourishes. “Suburban Junkie Lady” observes the title character with her laconic daily struggle but also contains a glorious guitar solo buried under the noise, straining to be heard amidst the clutter.
The place holder feeling “Shoes and Tags” seems superfluous, but Herrema and Hagerty have returned powerfully everywhere else. For a band who loves their distortion/noise, the groove is the most successful (and vital) part of their style on White Stuff. The “Purple Audacity” combo of tracks mix it with breathy vocals and off-kilter guitar while “Whopper Dave” is mash-up of folksier sounds (including chimes) and a deep beat before “Every Day Swan” injects Sonic Youth fuzz to the groove.
The outfit winningly goes full hip hop as Kool Keith shows up on the first single “Get Used To This”, the industrial warbling supports the MC perfectly. That hip hop style sticks around for the following “Sic Em Slow” keeping the beats pumping while grafting on killer riffs for support. The album ends with the tacked on the demo sounding “Under Ice” proving Royal Trux can still be brutal (pummeling a begging for forgiveness Robert E Lee with a nail studded baseball bat) while searching for ways to experiment with their beloved filthy rock.
Herrema and Hagerty had not spoken in fifteen years before reuniting in 2015 for live dates and this unexpected reunion continues to pay dividends. White Stuff may not be as experimental as some of their past efforts, but it is an incredibly enjoyable dip into the dumpster of dirty grooving rock and roll whose sound is surprisingly appropriate thirty years after their formation.
