album art for osees - intercepted message

Osees: Intercepted Message (2023)

It’s weird to be starting here, with the latest burst of garage psych sweetness from John Dwyer and co., but sometimes that’s how it goes. I fell into the Osees hole (or Thee Oh Sees, or Oh Sees, or OCS, or whatever new permutation Dwyer comes up with) in 2016 with the dual release of A Weird Exits and An Odd Entrances. It was also at the same time as my discovery of Ty Segall, and like that multi-hyphenate band leader, Dwyer and his rotating cast of musicians have put out a TON of music: at least seven proper LPs, not to mention reinterpretations, 20 minute long singles, and a bevy of side project (Bent Arcana being my favorite). But I just got my sweet vinyl for Intercepted Message, the outfit’s synth-heavy pop rock hybrid and latest release, so what better time than now to start talking about one of my favorite current bands?

ChrisSeptember 12, 20231 Comment

Vinyl

夢遊病者 – Skopofoboexoskelett (2023)

I’ve never been known as the “noise guy” – give me a solid rockin’ foundation any day of the week. Hell, give me odd syncopations and un-common time signatures and I’ll make a meal of it. Give me a cacophony of colliding sounds and I’m not sure what to make of it. So why the draw to a band like 夢遊病者, loosely translated to Sleepwalker, who not only pushes the extent of noise and extreme metal but excels in making the kind of sonic collage whose very intent is to put you ill at ease? I have no idea, but since first hearing their 2016 release 5772 (on cassette, no less) I was taken. Skopofoboexoskelett is the band’s latest EP, and it continues the trend of using black metal as a springboard to jarring, emotive auditory nightmares. If I’m being overly flamboyant with my language, that’s because I’m still wrestling with how to even describe what I’m hearing.

ChrisSeptember 8, 2023September 6, 20231 Comment

Vinyl

Egg: The Civil Surface (1974)

Sometimes you don’t know how a certain album landed in your periphery. Did it suddenly appear out of the mystical musical ether? Was it one of those random selections that comes on after the album I set to play as I fell asleep ended? We may never know (though the latter scenario seems more likely), but whatever the cause I’m glad The Civil Surface, the third and final studio album from the oddly satisfyingly named Egg found its way to me.

ChrisSeptember 6, 20232 Comments

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Month: September 2023

Osees: Intercepted Message (2023)

夢遊病者 – Skopofoboexoskelett (2023)

Egg: The Civil Surface (1974)