Consuming the Tangible

I’ve been listening to Psychedelic Jungle almost every night.

They sound like hot, sticky New York nights. Or what I recollect at this point: the times were few, but memorable, the wisps able to get past age and weed still strong with lights, sounds, sweat, and salt. That was The Cramps for me, both in the heated moment of discovery and for decades afterward. I would try and get underneath the songs, getting how cool and punk and insane it was, but not hearing it. Then the news that sonic guru Henry Rollins and Dischord founder / man of 1,001 bands Ian MacKaye were working with Poison Ivy to bring the long-lost Gravest Gravy to life along with resurrecting Vengeance Records unlocked something. Now the tunes clicked; they sprang and sprung and stuck inside me, and I’m still finding myself listening at least 1-2 times a day.

And no. I’ve never seen an episode of Wednesday.

Why Psychedelic Jungle, Chris? Why not Songs the Lord Taught Us? The honest answer is I have no idea. Maybe it’s the addition of Kid Congo on second guitar, replacing Bryan Gregory — I’ve been exposed to and really liked Gun Club, Nick Cave, and Die Haut, and the production feels fuller, despite still having no bass. The 1-2 punch of “Greenfuz” and “Goo Goo Muck” is an all-timer, and there’s something exciting about seeing how the band plays with the standard ’50s rock and roll structure.

I’ve spent the better part of an afternoon getting a good, proper guitar tone, adding slapback and drenching the cleans in enough reverb to sink a bus. I’ve twiddled with my tremolo pedal to get things just right…and I still can’t quite sound like Poison Ivy does — she’s always underappreciated as a player. There’s a bigger swing with her and Kid Congo playing together on the original tracks. And though there may be more covers here, when you have Lux Interior putting his signature voice on a track, you can hear the writhing, jittery freakout in every syllable — the songs become Cramps songs, no matter who they belonged to in a previous incarnation.

Three days and countless spins since starting this review, I’m still trying to figure out just how the band managed to make “Primitive” so sleazy and haunted at the same time. Or how “Caveman” can be an original when I swear my mother used to play it when I was a child. Or any of the killer originals that adorn Psychedelic Jungle‘s second side.

Why did it take years for this to sink in? Why did it keep its hold on me despite not being able to really find a connection “in” to the music for so long? I think the music of The Cramps is exceptional in that I come away each time knowing more but understanding less, and man…

That is an attractive thing in music.