Pan – 079
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Oh Sees - 2018 - Smote Reverser
Castle Face – 110
Crack the coffers, Oh Sees have spawned another frothy LP of
head-destroying psych epics to grok and rock out to. You’ll notice the
fresh dollop of organ and keyboard prowess courtesy of "Memory of a Cut
Off Head” alum and noted key-stabber Tom Dolas...the Quattrone/Rincon
drum-corps polyrhythmic pulse continues to astound and pound in equal
measure, buttressed by the nimble fingered bottom end of Sir Tim Hellman
the Brave and the shred-heaven fret frying of John Dwyer, whilst Lady
Brigid Dawson again graces the wax with her harmonic gifts. Aside from
the familiar psych-scorch familiar to soggy pit denizens the world over,
there’s a fresh heavy-prog vibe that fits like a worn-in jean jacket
comfortably among hairpin metal turns and the familiar but no less
horns-worthy guitar fireworks Dwyer’s made his calling card. Perhaps the
most notable thing about Smote Reverser is the artistic restlessness
underpinning its flights of fancy. Dwyer refuses to repeat himself and
for someone with such a hectic release schedule, that stretching of
aesthetic borders and omnivorous appetite seems all the more superhuman.
Hope you’re hungry as these platters are piled high.
Nurse With Wound - 2018 - Changez Les Blockeurs LP
United Dirter – none
Nurse With Wound rework The New Blocakders rare AF 1982 début, ‘Changez Les Blockeurs’ in a mechanically reclaimed reflux of the OG, as gruesome as McNuggets, and just as tasty.
For the uninitiated (or sensible-minded) listeners who are unfamiliar with The New Blockaders: they’re one of the cheeriest acts to ever emerge from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; a pair of siblings responsible for some of post-industrial/noise and avant-garde music’s greatest oddities, ranging from a severe collab with an early iteration of Coil, to pioneering cut-up recordings with Mixed Band Philanthropist, and even later recording for Prurient’s Hospital Productions. They’re basically certified noise music heroes (anti-heroes?).
As ever, NWW’as Steven Stapelton was way ahead of the curve in 1982, and the first person to pick up TNB’s début LP, which he subsequently distributed via United Dairies. 36 years later, he’s returned to that slab, seemingly with a hatchet and some steam-powered Victorian loom, to extract its guts and weave them into a sound which physically lives up the record’s title; Changez Les Blockeurs.
Across two sides, he hacks, splices and hacks up the OG in a tirade of frayed rhythmic complexity and decimated racket, at times sounding like a Saturday afternoon’s worth of striped geordies fed into a massive sausage grinder.
For the uninitiated (or sensible-minded) listeners who are unfamiliar with The New Blockaders: they’re one of the cheeriest acts to ever emerge from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; a pair of siblings responsible for some of post-industrial/noise and avant-garde music’s greatest oddities, ranging from a severe collab with an early iteration of Coil, to pioneering cut-up recordings with Mixed Band Philanthropist, and even later recording for Prurient’s Hospital Productions. They’re basically certified noise music heroes (anti-heroes?).
As ever, NWW’as Steven Stapelton was way ahead of the curve in 1982, and the first person to pick up TNB’s début LP, which he subsequently distributed via United Dairies. 36 years later, he’s returned to that slab, seemingly with a hatchet and some steam-powered Victorian loom, to extract its guts and weave them into a sound which physically lives up the record’s title; Changez Les Blockeurs.
Across two sides, he hacks, splices and hacks up the OG in a tirade of frayed rhythmic complexity and decimated racket, at times sounding like a Saturday afternoon’s worth of striped geordies fed into a massive sausage grinder.
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