For World AIDS Day, a Blunt Reminder of Disease from New Artist, bottoms

Despite the indelible impact the AIDS crisis had on the cultural life of America's great cities in the late 20th Century, in recent years, there has been a dearth of popular music that engages with issues around the disease. The Coke-commercial that is Avicii and Wyclef Jean's charity single collaboration notwithstanding, there are hardly any musical markers for events like today's 26th annual World AIDS Day.

Enter bottoms, a new band signed to Atlas Chair, the new label from JD Samson (MEN, Le Tigre), comprised of programmer and Bushwig drag festival co-founder Simon Leahy, drummer Michael Prommasit and performance artist/singer Jake Dibeler. Their new single, "HIV," drops today in recognition of World AIDS Day though not necessarily with a message in a familiar package.

"We aren't a band singing about AIDS awareness," Dibeler explains. "The song is part of my work; it is about me and gay culture and identity and sex like all of the other bottoms songs are."

Musically, bottoms blends punk percussion with electro acid-house redux while Dibeler's controlled screamo vocal punctuates the upper register with palpable anxiety. The song's title is as unshrouded as the group's own sex-position-referencing name, though the track itself sounds anything but direct.Unlike "Divine Sorrow," there is no grand message through lyricism here, rather an evocative and animal expression of feeling. If you feel confused after listening, that might even be by design.

The group's cited influences for "HIV" include artists and activists David Wojnarowicz, Peter Hujar, Diamanda Galas and Robert Mapplethorpe as well as ACT UP and the Silence = Death campaign. As the trio puts it, "people who have fought loudly for the rights of people with HIV/AIDS," and who stand in stark contrast to a generation described by many as being HIV-apathetic.

"HIV/AIDS is something that affects us directly, however it is one small portion of what bottoms represents," they explain. "AIDS was a massacre, and yes, we believe a lot of our peers are complacent. None of our generation witnessed the death of their loved ones."

"People have spent a long time keeping quiet about HIV," Dibeler adds. "Conversely, I think it's really important to scream about it."

bottoms' debut EP, "Goodbye," is slated to release January 21, 2015 on iTunes; pre-sale vinyl is available here.

The band performs at Baby's Allright on December 14, Palisades for a DFA Party on January 17 and at Secret Project Robot Art Experiment for an EP release party on January 23, 2015.

bottoms is on Facebook and SoundCloud.