flesh produce
Flesh Produce - Photo by Kevin O. - @ayo4ko
Digital hardcore duo Flesh Produce are a cathartic purging of pent-up feelings and bottled-up creativity. “I can say some f#@%-up shit onstage, but then I smile at people to let them know it’s not directed at them. This band allows me to embody a lot of emotions,” says vocalist-guitarist-producer Myla Profitt.
The Seattle, Washington-based twosome’s tracks are an exhilarating example of controlled chaos. “In the past, a lot of my ideas got thrown out because I was a drummer with weird taste in music. This band gives me the chance to express myself while beating the shit out of the drums so much that I throw up after shows,” reveals drummer-producer Karl Fagerstrom:
Flesh Produce are spreading a virulent concoction of EDM, noise rock, punk, sludge metal, hip-hop, and emo. Its tracks teem with stop-on-a-dime dynamic shifts, glitch-infested passages, finely-diced samples, and dynamically expressive vocals. The band’s freewheeling compositional sense is informed by Karl and Myla’s high-level of musicianship, formal music training, fearless creativity, and knack for sneaking ear-worm melodies inside chaotic passages.
Newly signed to CorpoRAT Records, Flesh Produce’s critically-acclaimed record, Couch Slime IV, will be released for the first time on vinyl in spring 2025, available in three color options. Look for more Flesh Produce releases on CorpoRAT in the future.
Since its inception in 2017, Flesh Produce has built an impressive independent artist profile. The group has released three albums, toured regionally, and made unforgettable appearances at such festivals as Bumbershoot, Treefort Music Fest, Volume Music Festival, and Capitol Hill Block Party.
Its manic live performance style fuses the adrenaline rush of punk and metal shows with the infectious dance energy of an EDM show. Onstage, Karl is a deftly-controlled circular storm of limbs, intricate beats, and triggered samples. Myla is the consummate riot grrrl 2.0 frontwoman. One moment she’s at a computer station dicing up samples in real time, and, in the next, she’s scaling the venue’s rafters.
Myla writes starkly about her traumatic childhood growing up in a religious cult; her experiences as a trans sex worker; government conspiracies; and the dark feelings we are all afraid to confront. Her vocals are a barrage of tonal and atonal screaming, emo melodies, and rhythmic punk and metal phrasing.
Flesh Produce songs are like the musical equivalent of deep fried memes. Live instrumental jams, samples, and various vocal, drum, and percussion performances are distressed, heavily processed and treated so they are unrecognizable. And they are often fitted together in jarring unions.
Karl formed Flesh Produce as a producer-artist, and met Myla later on through a high school buddy. At the time, she was interning at a studio, and playing indie-folk. The pair were introduced by a friend, and impressed with each other’s musicality, the two eventually began collaborating on Flesh Produce music.
Flesh Produce’s most recent album, Couch Slime IV, will be getting a lavish CorpoRAT Records release. The 12-track album is an apocalyptic masterpiece written during the pressure cooker of the pandemic, and the BLM protests. The stench of a burning world courses through the songs.
The assaulting and anthemic, “You Can’t Make Me Fuck,” explodes with riot grrrl sass, frantic beats, and an infestation of glitchy noises. “That is me spitting back in the faces of men I had experiences with where they seemed to think they deserved physical company for doing absolutely nothing,” Myla says.
“Cross-Eyed/Dizzy” is an engrossing ethereal track with ambient filth and complex beats, and abrupt tempo shifts. The dense and dancey tracks “Scream Flips 1” and “Scream Flips 2” showcase the pair’s fluid creative chemistry with both musicians producing tracks based on a set of motifs.
Up next, Flesh Produce is bursting with musical ideas, and Myla and Karl are excited to release more music on CorpoRAT Records. Looking back on their journey as a DIY duo, Karl says:“Playing festivals has been special, but meeting people on tour and getting to play in different cities has been the most meaningful thing for me.” Myla concurs: “It’s been like realizing a fantasy you’ve had since you were a kid.” - Lorne Behrman