The closest I have come to describing Polkadot Cadaver‘s sound is if Ronald McDonald hung himself with a noose fashioned by Michael Jackson… and that’s a good thing.
Formed in 2007 following the end of the band Dog Fashion Disco at the time, Pdot (as fans call ’em) began as a vehicle for Jasan Stepp and Todd Smith, blending the genre-bending avant-garde rock n roll of their previous band, with an electronic dance music approach to songwriting.
2007’s Purgatory Dance Party and 2011’s Sex Offender albums saw some of the band’s fan favorite songs, such as “Chloroform Girl”, “Pure Bedlam For Halfbreeds”, and “Bloodsucker”. 2013 saw the release of their first album on their very own record label, with Last Call In Jonestown being released on Razor To Wrist Records, a move to own their music outright and keep total control of their creative endeavors. Since the inception of Razor To Wrist Records, Polkadot Cadaver has been relentless with touring, merch production (so many great shirt designs!), and albums. Only really stopping to focus time on their other musical projects of Dog Fashion Disco, Knives Out!, Beyond Paranoid, and El Creepo!
In 2017, they released Get Possessed, a dark and almost wet-sounding album of stalking beats and guitar riffs that would make Tommy Victor blush. Personal favorites on this record include “Brain Eating Amoeba” and “Robot Assisted Suicide”. This record slowly pounds away into an ending of clarity and scathing political and social critique.
In 2020, Pdot hit the studio to re-record their debut record Purgatory Dance Party, in order to own the rights to these songs. Something lil miss Swift might have caught wind of, and decided to follow suit. This re-record offered such a sharper quality in almost every respect, while retaining the magic and soul that made the original album an underground cult favorite.
Finally, in the year of our lord, 2023, saw Echoes In The Hellscape. 9 tracks of all killer no filler. Personally, I absolutely love the Hieronymus Bosch-inspired album cover with its hallucinatory surrealism.
Songs like “Catch Me If You Can” and “Mrs. Gore”, show the growth and excitement of this band, keeping its core sound while showing that the best is yet to come.