By the time you read this review the Audiotree team will have updated the erroneous upload and this little piece of obscure heavy media will be forever lost to time.
But for those fortunate enough to catch the Spotify Audiotree premiere of Escuela Grind on May 20, there was a fun gem of rough mixes missing the vocals and most of the lead guitar.
These low-end-only versions showcased a different dynamic of Escuela Grind. Instrumental, and almost groove-metal, toned down but still very much heavy.
Audiotree, a Chicago-based independent record label best known for their live broadcasts on YouTube and accompanying Spotify EPs, recorded the tracks as part of one of their iconic in-house performances. But uploaded incomplete mixes to Spotify.
The Audiotree team responded to social media queries by assuring their listeners that the uploads would be fixed by the next day while fans were able to hear the complete mixes on the video recordings.
While the low-end mixes are by no means better versions of the Escuela Grind songs, they are appreciable as an entirely different experience.
While Escuela is probably best known for the intense vocal performances of Katerina Economou, and fast fret work of Krissy Morash, these versions are dominated by the formidable drumming of Jesse Fuentes and rhythm riffing of Thom Sifuentes and aided by deep bass.
Unfortunately, when Audiotree fixes the uploads those error mixes will be gone forever and the happy accident which produced such intriguing demo versions will be lost to the digital graveyard.
For the lucky few who tuned in and caught these unique versions it can stand to show not only that Escuela Grind has hidden dimensions, but also that the people at Audiotree can truly do no wrong.
