2023’s Girl With Fish cemented Pittsburgh trio Feeble Little Horse as noise-pop innovators – and introduced “Steamroller, you fuck like you’re eating” as a lyrical masterwork. This year’s bitknot somehow clears that high-water mark, mashing scarier guitar squalls, glitchier electronic samples, prettier melodies, and snottier poetry into a 25-minute experimental blast. Centerpiece “Dior” distills the LP’s strengths: As Sebastian Kinsler’s chunky, catchy riff devolves into a swarm of digital pixels, Lydia Slocum shades both couture worshippers (“I’m not insured, but nothing hurts wearing Ben Doctor”) and DIY posers (“You are not David Berman, you are not Kurt Cobain”). Her vocals are so sweet you nearly miss their bite. – Carys Anderson
