Here is a nice DIY crafted four song EP. It contains 3 originals and a Neil Young cover from his Ditch trilogy era classic album "On the Beach" - "Vampire Blues". The songs seem authentically bummed, exhausted and frustrated but also pleasantly revealing in the bliss which is making poor life decisions late at night. An anything goes noise philosophy is apparent in the band which leaves the originals sounding like the Birthday Party played by Velvet Underground loving Brooklyn NYC burnouts.
The players sound as if they suffer from insomnia. The singer doesn't have young Nick Cave's peppy, crooning wolf howl or the intensity of Australia, 1981. This being said, the character he portrays in song is captivating nonetheless. While strained and bleak, the singer can get into some hardcore territory. He has the cathartic and forceful bark of the guy in Pissed Jeans. On their "Vampire Blues" cover, he does not have Neil Young's signature Alto range, but his voice is distinctively passive aggressive which gives the song's blues structure a nice punk rock charm.
The guitars are distorted and frantic but at their least meandering and helpless. They never give up however; the band has the energy of rock and roll and even when they play on only fifteen minutes of sleep the music is still more fierce than the bleeps of robots. They are playing some harsh noise here with rock song structure, but it is still music that is warm from tube hum.
I bet this band would be interesting to see live, a mixture of Lou Reed cool with Nick Cave mean and a heartfelt impersonation of Harry Pussy guitar playing at half speed. Pretty good tape, it's like 15-20 minutes, check it out.
http://dihd.net/
-Jack Turnbull
www.jackturnbull.com
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