SH!TOMATO – SH!TOMATO (2025) – Album Review
Album: SH!TOMATO
Artist: SH!TOMATO
Release Date: May 21, 2025
A fun name for a band and an album, SH!TOMATO ticks all the boxes for what you would expect in a mashup of noise rock, mutated jazz, cringe psychedelics, and absurd arrangements. This Seattle-area solo project plays out regularly at various clubs, DIY venues, and the occasional bridge underpass. Their debut EP is featured on Already Dead Tapes, which may only be available digitally at this point.
My initial thoughts about this release are that it’s a mixed bag of all the indie noise and fringe rock genres one might expect from a tape release. There are some really solid genre callouts to punk/garage rock and fun breaks of a slower variety. Part of me wonders if the push towards being experimental took away from the parts that could have really made a more ear-friendly release. However, that really wouldn’t be the point of a shit tomato. We’re not trying to recreate “Supertramp’s Take The Long Way Home” on this album, hahaha. Could you imagine a noise rock version?
If you were expecting some Frank Zappa-type weirdness, well, you’ll get your fill with the split track STONEY BALONEY/CELLULOID WONDERLAND. From the gasping noise to repetitive rhythms and cartoonish sonic hijinks, this ten and a half minute piece covers all that wacky territory. It does end in a fun little blues romp and stomp before fading away in screeching guitar noise.
The drowning in sluggish tempos, broken drums, and delays gives SINK YOUR TEETH a pleasant enough experience. From the time-share promotional video intro to sell you some baloney vacation, we get a nice mangling as it is replaced by the boom-bap and slowed punk bass line. The vacation has turned into a lethargic hammock nap in the cooler swamps of the Olympic Rainforest. We’ll get more erratic guitar string mangling that is replaced by trumpet wailing and drums pitched down further until we hit the bottom of that well.
There is something really tight and cohesive about the intro’s transition into the ritualistic pattern of the trapset used for WURM, as the main guitar rhythm builds as the cannibalistic chant grows into wails and screams, then back down to a steady incantation again. There are plenty of distorted feedback loops and tape-delayed drums that transition into a subterranean funk outro, so it’s not a single-themed song.
OOEYGEODUCK is some fun beat and sample play that lends itself to more trip-hop territory as you hear faint vocals sing something cute and sincere. What’s he singing? Not too sure, as I didn’t have a lyric sheet, nor was I able to wade through the layers of FX to decipher it. I don’t think it’s necessary to enjoy the song, as I like the raw garage rock flavor it has.
If you can get a physical copy of the tape, I’d say it’s worth your while. It might be even better to catch a live performance, as they have a fun energy that is untamed. They might be called SH!TOMATO, but I think you’ll find their sonic flavor pleasing to adventurous ears.
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