Winston Hytwr: “Poor Piss Fetische” review

In early November, Columbus lo-fi daddy Winston Hytwr released the 10-minute noise track “Poor Piss Fetische.” This release comes on the heels of Winston’s fifth LP, As Per My Last Email, which dropped in June. While he was promoting the album, he mentioned how he wanted to put the guitar down. The result was nine tracks of dizzying synths and lo-fi looping. At times, it sounds like we’re listening to long-lost basement tapes from Dev Hynes.

The first noises we’re greeted with on the new track aren’t those of the guitar family. Still, Winston most definitely picked up an ax when constructing this terror-fueled noise track. Before we hear any music, we’re greeted with a clip from a Hot ‘97 interview from July 2004, in which the rapper Jim Jones is calling rapper Mase a fraud for leaving Harlem. We’re given 80 seconds of this before being immediately swept away by insanely manic drumming, unintelligible growls and barks, and, in contrast to the last record, thrashing guitar sounds. 

Personally, I was blown away by the swift galloping nature of Winston’s drumming. It’s a pulse that reverberates through the entire track, matching the intensity of other various clips the DIY musician chopped in. 

The enigmatic bursts come in spurts in between George W. Bush calling out terrorism right before teeing off (“Now watch this drive.”), Styles P calling out 50 Cent for laughing at Supreme McGriff getting a life conviction, and a quote from a Tupac skit. Most can be placed within the time period of the early-to-mid 2000s — that post-9/11 dread. The point is that tensions were high and anxiety was thriving. But aren’t they always?

While most of the clips used here are isolated, there is only one time when Winston’s manic noise-making doesn’t cut out after the introduction of a new interview clip. All of the other times, it gets snipped. The one instance is a news report following the Rodney King verdict — a dystopian thrash metal score. It matches the justified chaos that ensued in 1992. 

It’s nice of Winston to want to pick up the guitar again to remind us that we’re living in a constant loop of shit. If things are always going to be this way, it’s at least nice to have commentary from our very own lo-fi daddy.

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