FLUVSTER: Covid Filth EP (Self released 2020)

New five track EP from the Amsterdam based Fluvster

Gigs and festivals are few and far between due to the ongoing pandemic, which is obviously a bad thing. But to stop themselves going stir crazy, many musicians are busying themselves with their home studios and knocking out DIY recordings. Fluvester is one such dude. Although given his history, we cannot be one hundred percent sure he was not crazy before lockdown kicked in.

A UK ex-pat, he has been loitering among the coffee shops, brothels and diamond merchants for over quarter of a century. He has been in and out of various bands throughout this time, most notably, the Dread Giveaways, who in the naughties played relentlessly around the clubs and squats of Holland – not to mention turning up in Wales to play suitably crusty events as the Workhouse and Surplus Festivals

Following the implosion of the Dread Giveaways in 2015 Fluvster recorded his first solo album ‘Misleading Sense Of Euphoria’ on his home studio. The album resulted in him being signed by record label Lost Moment Records and three more albums and an EP followed on the label.

‘The Covid Filth EP’ has been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic – full of dark humour and anti-capitalist scribe.

‘Colona Virus’ kicks off the EP with a grimy punk vibe and tells the tale from the point of view of someone that has the virus with suitably lavatorial lyrics.

A solid pounding drum beat sounds the opening of ‘Disease Finger’ a song that references – well, to be honest we are not sure what the fuck it is about, but it gets the toes tapping.

‘Super Saturdaze’ revels in being able to go to the pub to get pissed again – although it may be a while before we can do this properly without contagious consequences.

‘Superspreader’ is the tale of an anti-hero that carries on as he did in the pre-virus world, without any care about the aforementioned consequences.

Finishing off the EP we have ‘The Prince’s Coronation’ which we think might be about the isolation of the ruling classes who are protected from the problems us proles have to deal with. Whether it be having an estate to be roam when ‘isolating’ or getting away with dodgy bedroom behaviour, it is one rule for them and another for us.

To be honest, we might have got the themes of all these songs wrong, but then that is what all good art does, make you think and draw your own conclusions as to their meaning.

In each case the lyrics are laid over the top of an appropriately dirty, unpolished, DIY sounding glorious racket – but with a rhythm that is often missing from bands that spend millions on recording. If keeping things real is the name of the game, they don’t get much more real than this.

And in true DIY style it is all free to download on his soundcloud page