Ball of Wax 61 Songs: Red Weather Tigers – “Hello, Discordia”

Ball of Wax supergroup Red Weather Tigers is back! Again! Proving their one-minute appearance on Ball of Wax 60 was no fluke, this band of miscreants – Marc Manning, Grumpy Bear, and THEATH – has delivered a fine homage to the goddess of strife, who is surely having quite a time of it these days. “Hello, Discordia” has all the swampy grit you’d expect in a song about an agent of death and mayhem, but the fascinating thing about the arrangement is that all that dirt is buried in the vocal track. The guitar, percussion, keys, and backing vocals that carry the song are all relatively clean and precise, humming along in a pleasant, bluesy manner. But when that vocal kicks in – and I’m sorry, but I don’t know which of our fine friends is behind the mic here – it’s all dirt and sass and low end, and it casts a pall of, well, discord over the entire song, making the whole thing fittingly unsettling. Here’s hoping poor, overworked Discordia takes a long, well-deserved rest soon, but in the meantime, this is a perfect soundtrack to her reign.