The new single from Brooklyn’s favorite trash-pop band is the first off their forthcoming EP Self Destroy, which “explores the unraveling of the human condition”
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There’s no denying that humans have done some pretty cool shit over the last however many million years. We invented the wheel and the lightbulb. The submarine and the spaceship. The internet, the air conditioner, the margarita and the Macarena. All are testaments to homo sapiens’ intelligence and ingenuity, plus what I imagine was a hell of a lot of trial and error as we tried to make it to the moon and perfect our cocktails and choreography.
But in the years since we rubbed two sticks together and suddenly acquired the ability to make s’mores, as our posture has improved and our skull shape has shifted, along with discovering new ways to cure diseases and stuff pizza crust, we’ve also developed a rather unsavory characteristic: arrogance. The belief that humans are different from and superior to every dog, dolphin, camel and caterpillar. That our species is special, invincible—immune to time, death and a Mother Nature whom, like a teenager, we seem hell-bent on pissing off.
Ironically, it’s this uniquely human trait—and a focus on domination, innovation and achievement at all costs—that often results in us losing sight of an important fact: Thoughts, inventions and creations aside, underneath it all, we’re all just animals. And it’s the coming to grips with this fact, an undoing and “unraveling of the human condition,” that’s explored in the forthcoming Nihiloceros record, the first very rad single from which I’m thrilled to premiere here!
Featuring harmonies from Gillian Visco of Shadow Monster, “iamananimal” is just the first chapter of Self-Destroy, which drops September 17th, and ahead of the release, Mike Borchardt of the band shared some background on the song and the entire plot of the upcoming EP over email:
“The new EP Self-Destroy explores the unraveling of the human condition. ‘iamananimal’ is just the beginning of that story. We are all just overly complex self-domesticated animals rapidly erasing the world as we try and write our history. When faced with the idea that all our culture and technology and legacy are nothing more than a finite illusion, we lose our ability to determine what is meaningful and what is absurd. In the end, we walk the same path as the creatures who came before us. Eventually erosion and passage of time catch up to us all. The rest of the record continues that story as the world falls apart and the rogue survivors strap themselves to homemade rockets and shoot themselves into various corners of outer space looking for asylum.”
“iamananimal,” the second track on the record, drops everywhere Friday. The other song titles in this beautifully imaginative, gloriously cynical saga include “Dirty Homes,” “Mammal Science Fiction,” “Halfway Human” (which also features Gillian), “Baby Teeth” and “Odie.” Pre-order it on some sick purple/pink/red tie-dye vinyl via Totally Real Records now, then grab tickets and meet me at Our Wicked Lady to catch Nihiloceros LIVE on the roof with Fat Heaven and Cult of Chunk TONIGHT!
Whether our species is eventually extinguished dinosaur-style by meteor or because we all simultaneously crash our flying cars into the Grand Canyon on a random Thursday in 3033, as we succumb to a fate that all living creatures will one day face, at least we have pretty sick music to pregame the eventual apocalypse with…
And for the record, I’m talking about Nihiloceros—not (just) the Macarena.
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Follow Nihiloceros at @nihiloceros, pre-order the EP on Bandcamp, add their music to your Spotify playlists and find everything Nihiloceros at nihiloceros.com!
Feature image (provided by the band): Michelle LoBianco