***“There’s an established continuum for the type of rock ‘n roll DEGREASER trade in, but cards on the table: I’ve never followed it closely. To me, Degreaser’s new record sounds like Hendrix with all the benevolent and pleasant sensibilities forcedly syphoned out. In their place, delirium and debasement is injected. There’s a blues rock and psychedelic element about Degreaser that few people would deny, but a comparison to Hendrix still feels like drawing a long bow. But draw it I proudly will, if only because it’s like a horrid monochromatic inverse to the blues, or indeed any vaguely paisley inclinations later torchbearers have contributed to that tradition. There are lots of colours here, but none of them you’d associate with happiness. There’s an almost malevolent pursuit of satisfaction, but the way TIM EVANS sings it’s like he’s always very far away from reaching it. He sounds like he’s keeling over, clutching a signpost, gasping for air. His voice doesn’t sound like it’s communicating at all, but instead making sure that it’s at least still there. The way Sweaty Hands is mixed, it kinda just glides over you like some sickly red gel: it’s a mass of phlegm-like texture, warm like a womb but impure, and frankly, not good for your health. Sweaty Hands is a convincingly modern blues record: its neurosis isn’t borne of heartbreak or even poverty, but instead an overwhelming dread at the spectre of the Earth: everything is a silhouette, and its emergence from the shadows is...
LP $20.65
11/13/2012
***“I was late to arrive on the alternating Sea Scouts and Bird Blobs trams, but was well aware that many peers and elders held those groups in high esteem. While the DEGREASER record may contain whiffs of the fog the Scouts/Blobs left in their wake, this is a beast in and of itself; enlivened by splashes of chrome strippin' black-hole psych and No Wave malice. You might hear bits & pieces from principal songwriter TIM EVAN’s other bands over the years, among them BOGAN DUST and more recently, COCONUTS. Facts bein' facts though, you could just as well do w/out hearing any of what's come before from Tim & co and still get a kick out of DeGreaser and their debut long-player Bottom Feeder. Here are nine tracks that will make you hit the wall or nosedive onto gravel. A pitch-perfect addition to our ever growing roster of gnarled eerie sounds; DeGreaser are a destruction unit of the highest caliber, worth yer chump change no matter what time you happened to tune in. Mastered by STEVEN SMITH.” Australian import.
LP $20.60
10/18/2011