Meatraffle

Meatraffle, the South London ensemble, apply the label “bastard music” to their unruly, absurdist mixture of post-punk, dub, jazz, garage rock, and psychedelia. Across the two albums HiFi Classics (2015) and Bastard Music (2019), the songs confront gender inequality, working-class hardship, platonic affection, and recreational drug use.

Performing under pseudonyms, the group comprises guitarist Tingle Mackerel, bassist Cloudy Truffles, drummer Fats McCourt, and vocalist/trumpeter Zsa Zsa Sapien. The project began as a tongue-in-cheek conceit about a Beatles cover band incapable of playing their instruments; after presenting a performance-art rendering of “Revolution 9” at a charity concert, the musicians commenced unruly appearances in Brixton pubs and clubs.

Once Fat White Family hailed them as “the greatest band in the country right now bar none,” Meatraffle issued their debut, HiFi Classics, through Trashmouth Records in 2015. A split single with Warmduscher followed on Speedy Wunderground in 2016, and Moshi Moshi Records released “Brother” the next year. The band also offered the single “‘Ndrangheta Allotment,” later reworked by Mark Stewart and Octo Octa.

In 2019 they joined the Madonnatron for the Record Store Day collaborative release “Brigante Se More”/“Bella Ciao.” To dodge the “difficult second album” trap, the members announced their forthcoming record as their third. Delayed Records issued Bastard Music in 2019, featuring a nine-minute Andrew Weatherall remix of the lead single “Meatraffle on the Moon.”