Total Shutdown

Spasmodic S.F. jazzbos Total Shutdown put out this hectic debut record in 2003. Blast-beat drums drive fits of hard-core, metal and free jazz with a sublanguage vocalist and background screamers spewing chimpscreech. Not for the weak, the best parts of Total Shutdown happen, as the band name suggests, right after everything gets too nutsy and they stop for a breath before launching into another tirade. It's the launch itself that is awesome, not the half-second of sudden silence preceding it. The first of four tracks titled "Untitled" is their big hit, "Untitled."