Through their blend of sludge and hip-hop, everything about the locally grown (Queens) trio Show Me The Body embodies the gruff propensity of New York City. NYC lifers will attest the notion that the spirit of New York City evaporating as it continues to grow skyward, with new high-rise buildings being planned and completed in a pronto pace. Frontman Julian Cashwan Pratt lamented in a recent interview that he lacks any inhibition to pen a “love song,” which is a result from the changing hometown which he also declared as dead.

Part of the Letter Racer collective the band champions stringent DIY practices, often sharing show dates by word of mouth rather than flooding their social media channels. Earlier this year, S M T B was released through BitTorrent Bundle. Like their debut Yellow Kidney, S M T B extends the band’s wiry sludge punk that weeps of fraught and raw energy.

On paranoia creeping “Space Faithful,” Pratt freewheels over erratic grooves that feels manic and herky jerky. Mid-way the swamp trudging bass clashes with Pratt’s shrilly electric banjo, which often sounds like its louder six-stringed cousin on the record. The pell-mell rhythms on “Bone Soup” and “Six Fingers Deep” emulates the hustle and bustle of daily NYC activities with storming low end fuzz, relentless drumming, and flurrying twang. The drawl plucking on “Vernon” (featuring Wiki of Ratking) is wistful companion to Pratt’s existential trepidation (“tryna fight tryna die tryna get high before I get older”). At their quietest, “Vernon” is the band’s most accessible, channeling their panic-inducing tendencies into a tranquil ballad that has traces of anxiety.

Cereal Pairing: Count Chocula with granola of choice