Each month, Consequence spotlights a rising artist with our feature series CoSign. For October 2024, we get down and dirty with Oklahoma City noisemakers Chat Pile to talk about their new album, Cool World.
Oklahoma City quartet Chat Pile have been making waves with their mutated, overbearing brand of noise rock that sounds like someone accidentally started playing a Big Black 45 vinyl record while their turntable was still set to 33 RPMs. From early standouts like “Rainbow Meat,” a song about wanting your mortal remains to be used as fodder for an Arby’s slider combo, to the pummeling tracks of 2022’s excellent God’s Country, Chat Pile have been nothing but gnarly.
The members operate under the pseudonyms Raygun Busch, Luther Manhole, Cap’n Ron, and Stin. As they join the Zoom meeting, the vibe is wholesome: They lament the absence of drummer Cap’n Ron with a cheeky “fuckin’ work” tone, make tentative plans to attend an annual Halloween event at the local drive-in theater, and light up when Mr. Pete — Stin’s dog — hops into frame.
Yep, these are the guys that are responsible for one of the most irresistibly noisy, beautifully sludgy, perfectly disconcerting albums of the year: Cool World.
But much like the guys themselves, Cool World reveals a surprisingly accessible core underneath the mountains of mud, distorted tones, and chromatic riffs. While there’s no denying songs like “I Am Dog Now” or “Funny Man” revel in making as much noise as possible via slurred screams and sour chords, many tunes are grounded in pop ideals.
“I think the main goal that we had set out to do before we started writing anything was to be a little more direct and to the point,” Stin explains. “Because the songs on God’s Country tended to be a little sprawling, at least for our typical standard.”