It starts with a few bird chirps, in a serene, deserted haven of nature, no doubt. Within seconds, however, a massive onslaught of toxic sludge pours down from above and covers everything. You're carried away, with no way to swim to the surface, not a second to breathe.
No, I'm not talking about the Louisiana coastline after a BP fuck-up (those would've been turtles getting sludged, anyway). I'm talking Warm Slime, the 11th full-length from San Francisco garage lords Thee Oh Sees. And, to be even more precise, I'm talking about the album's eponymous opening track, a thirteen-minute freak-out in which guitars flare and burn like lobs of grease on a red-hot skillet, devilish yelps sizzle in their thick, reverbed juices, and the drums and bass keep their relentless pace while everything around them explodes and rekindles a hundred times over. A song like that, my friend, will leave you feeling like you've just been moshing in an overheated broom closet.
But then it just goes on. Because that's what Thee Oh Sees do: they release album after album, song after song, of filthy, toxic, insanely brilliant (or brilliantly insane) garage-rock; they never stop, and why should they? They have energy that's too twisted and raw to turn to formula, and they play music that sounds ageless anyway, as primitive as evil itself. Listen to "Everything Went Black," martial and demented. Hear the terrifying whoop that launches "Casuistic Tackle"'s implacable cavalcade. Do you really believe these people can be stopped? I didn't think so.
These people, or this man, since Thee Oh Sees, to this day, revolves around John Dwyer. John Dwyer, whose face looks kind of like a forlorn bull-dog's, and whose weird square-dancing kicks onstage tell you that this man will be doing what he's doing until the drugs leave his body cold. Few other garage bands today play their music with as much intensity, psychotic dedication, and steadfast madness as Thee Oh Sees. And for that, they're precious — much, much more precious than the thick, black slime that's been wreaking havoc on the Gulf of Mexico the past few weeks.
Thee Oh Sees, Warm Slime (In the Red, 2010) (Purchase - definitely worth it)
FC
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