KXSC Fest Presents: Unctuous Rump
If the name Unctuous Rump sounds vaguely familiar to you, that’s because this rapscallion student band once made Reddit’s front page for their music video featuring band members covering themselves in peanut butter as a feast for some lucky dogs. I begin with this fact because this music sounds like it could only be consummated through Reddit’s front page; Unctuous Rump makes songs that sound incredibly knowledgeable, and in the greatest, most complimentary sense possible, they do so while making complete fools of themselves in the process.
This carefree, borderline nihilistic comedy (a la The Dude) gives Unctuous Rump a feeling of complete sincerity in all their audio-visual, and social media antics. Scrolling through their Facebook page, I came across a YouTube link to a Japanther song, a link to the “Unctuous Rump live cam”, and an invitation to a show with the caveat “We are each really stupid”. There’s something in such a humor that I find incredibly endearing for a band that can cite Igor Stravinsky, Sun City Girls, and Norah Jones in their list of influences. Any other band that might do this and also attach an experimental noise demo to their Soundcloud profile--might come off as utterly pretentious, but totaling all these things together makes listening to Unctuous Rump a completely liberating experience. All of a sudden I want to give Reddit a second chance.
Michael Silvestre, Public Relations