Band:	Couch Slut
Album:	You Could Do It Tonight
Style:	Noise rock, Sludge metal
Release date:	April 2024

01. Couch Slut Lewis
02. Ode To Jimbo
03. Wilkinson’s Sword
04. Donkey
05. Presidential Welcome
06. Energy Crystals For Healing
07. Downhill Racer
08. Laughing And Crying
09. The Weaversville Home For Boys



Now that I'm done regretting the Roadburn sets I didn't see, there were some ones I do cherish seeing. Some of those ones have been sets of bands playing then upcoming albums in full. One of those was Couch Slut's You Could Do It Tonight.

The Couch Slut set had the benefit of being one of the first two sets of the day, and as weird as it was to see Couch Slut at 2 PM, it also meant there was barely anything it could clash with, even just partially, meaning that it was also one of those sets that you could enjoy without constantly having to keep track of schedules and whatnot and just be there fully. There had already been a Couch Slut secret set a day prior, one that I obviously couldn't make it to, meaning that this one ended up being their second time performing in a short time, but that's only relevant to that one performance. I still got to see this album performed in full by a mostly good shape. Having been already familiar with the band, I did expect to be a bit disturbed by it (intended consequence), but as Rod said afterward, it was more uncomfortable than entertaining but in a good way.

Though listening to it in the studio isn't the same experience as seeing a very not sober and sleep deprived and own-blood covered Megan Osztrosits laying it out on the stage, but the band makes sure that some of that energy is captured in the studio as well. Leaving the anxiety-inducing instrumentals aside, Megan's vocal presence is what really makes this hit the way that it does. In a way it's less a vocalist's job and more of a storyteller and mood setter job that she's doing, painting pretty vivid pictures with the lyrics and using her tone, whether slightly snarky or spaced out or feeling the full bludgeon of the rot of the stories with her blood curdling shrieks and howls. It's impossible not to feel like you are stuck in the middle of this horrible place with horrible people doing horrible things. It's not always that you kinda wish a record was less immersive. But you have to listen and see the stench of human behaviors.

Even with my previous experience with the band, and with the reduced shock from not encountering them for the first time, this is not an easy album. There's a surreal way that Couch Slut manage to still have the same shocking impact, and some of it is from the musical aspect of how the noise rock bass alternates with how ominous the guitar melodies are. There's enough variation in melodies and paces to keep the tense atmosphere going without overdoing it, either by having a dark jazzy interlude announce the B-side, or by pushing and pulling the intensity, or by injecting more spoken word moments that somehow feel even more full of puss than the extreme vocals.

I need to take a shower, man.