September 19, 2011

The Daily Choice: Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler

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I don’t know if there is any band currently performing that continues to not only elicit the kind of excitement Thee Oh Sees elicit for me, but also with each and every album live up to that nugget of electricity rattling about in my stomach.  Though Castlemania, with its crazy voices and impromptu flute solos, wasn’t everyones bag of prog-garage tea, I found it as brilliant as everything else John Dwyer and crew have put out over the last seven or so years and the announcement of a second LP to be released in November has me clambering up the crow’s nest in sight of land.  ”Carrion Crawler,” the first single off the album, dips back a little in to the more straight-up garage-bludgeoning of Thee Oh See’s past.  I’d heard rumors that Dwyer wanted this album to “pummel” people but “Carrion Crawler” almost seems like a studio session warming up for a good solid pummeling.  It’s loose and wild, with a poppy riff that snakes its way through the entire song, Dwyer’s nasally sneer holding everything together.  Chalk up another Thee Oh Sees release that I preemptively imagine will melt out our eyeballs.

Carrion Crawler/The Dream is out November 15th on In The Red.

Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler

April 27, 2011

The Daily Choice: Thee Oh Sees – I Need Seed

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The ultra-prolific SF staple Thee Oh Sees have been, shockingly, quiet as of late, and it feels like they’ve just been cooped up in some dark cement chamber reloading the chambers.  Someone’s opened the doors though and their new release Castlemania is set to drop on June 14th, with this jaunty little single “I Need Seed” leading the way.  I was lucky enough to hear a large part of the new album months ago and can tell you that its a broad step away from the murky psych-garage-pop medley they’ve been touting for the last few albums.  Oh sure, it’s still John Dwyer and his merry cast of pranksters, but he’s tossed a few new ideas in to the mix, and it’s downright refreshing.  ”I Need Seed” sets the stage aptly as it incorporates a touch of their cadence-heavy guitar rhythms with a taste of weird in Dwyer’s gravel voiced monotone.

Thee Oh Sees, you do what you want though, I’ll follow you of the edge of an icy waterfall.

Castlemania is out on In The Red in July.

Thee Oh Sees – I Need Seed