Remastered from their 2011 cassette, this single from Eastlink features members of Total Control, UV Race, Repairs, Lakes, Straightjacket Nation, Interzone, Teargas, Dick Diver etc according to Termbo message boards. I had some idea this was from down under coming in from Easter Bilby, my Australian connection but was even more sure on the history lesson insert describing the native people, the Kurnai, who were slaughtered by settlers in the late 1800's. A lot of collaged together xerox weirdness that has me wondering if these tracks go as far as to have something to do with that history or it's just another fucked up statistic that informs daily life in more subtle really messed up ways.
A-Side's "Wild Dog" beats primitive tom and kick while guitars come in bouncing off every sheer surface. Thumping away they ride into a heavy V formation. Dark and garage, the liner notes have every member listed playing guitar. This has that hypnotizing repetitive feel with haunting sounds, chirping feedbacks and long drawn out metallic tones. Bent lower end amplified howls they commit to this darkness that's almost industrial, nothing to do with the cool, detached sounds of Joy Division but a reverb hazy smoke filled devil psych on the slowest rpm possible. It has that otherworldly power of Nothing People's dreaded impossible to ignore presence. It's ominous but doesn't overwhelm, it's solid and weirder than anything that's really trying. Truly damaged, you almost wonder where these guys got this idea to take that droning reverb sound to this goth place. I like the whole band coming in with no attempt at harmony just a collective of talking vocals in the background barely audible over this oppressive psych slow feedback. It's like a psych industrial, with the Jesus and Mary Chain buried back there they take a riff and literally keep banging it out in their post modern seance. A ritual to purge the google glasses and smartphones all at once, the feedback breaking bluetooth headsets, beating those useless gadgets into shards.
B-Side's "Blood Money" sets the tone with a more frantic tempo. He's losing or fighting something. It all breaks down halfway through with a wail of spiraling feedback setting up a maddening repetition with the circuits failing at the end. That sleeve is such a random collection of modern looks, shot from the tv, surveillance footage, models and stray dogs, freeway chases. These are the random nothings that make up a big brother world. You know what Orwell didn't see coming was that we'd be surveilancing ourselves. The govt doesn't have to do it, we freely give up every detail about our lives down to what singles we listen to EVERY DAY! They come up with this ominous rhythm, the vocals with perfect distance and echo. That repetition drives this straight into the monotony of those sleeve images and what makes this harsh reverb solo a complete shock. In the talky barrage delivery of vocals, there's no dening the atmosphere of oppression they create here. It's like the late '80s all over again, those political ideals just under the surface and non-specific as if to say question everything or it's already a mess. Trailing off synth blasts, a theremin meltdown meets it's maker as this slowly fades out. Guess what? The bomb was dropped. The big one. And we didn't even see it coming in 2014. Like Suicide they get this mechanical rhythm going and then vocally drip creep all over this. Long and without a rest it's updated but exactly like Martin Rev's record in all the right ways.
Get this stateside from Easter Bilby Distro, or the source Aarght Records.
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