The Batlord

Adrift On the Sea of No Wave: Part IV

Mars: 78+

Finally a band that I've never listened to. Or at least I have no memory whatsoever of what they sounded like off the No New York compilation. Who desperately tries to convince people that they are ignorant of a band? Me apparently. Well whatever. Unfortunately, I post off a library computer and I'm stuck with Youtube and much of the album isn't on there. I'm even having to make do with some of the versions off No New Wave. So that's balls, but a loser's gotta do what a loser's gotta do. Anyways, if you'll excuse me...




Finally, a band I don't have to sit and wait to see if I dig. They are almost straight forward and accessible as far as no wave is concerned. Not that far away from punk or garage rock at times. Though the farther I go on this album the more weird noise songs I hear. I actually sort of like those though, since while they are certainly arty and farty they aren't self-consciously unlistenable. I'm gonna have to give this a few more spins before I really talk any more about them.

I saw this band compared to the Velvet Underground on a Youtube comment. Not a bad comparison I guess. Although I might call them a more deranged Pere Ubu. They're not always totally avant garde with their songs, but the aesthetics of their musical style are always out there in the stratosphere. The vocals have this "mental-patient-on-cocaine-and-having-the-time-of-his-life" quality that is bags of fun. When the songs are more straight forward, they are quite catchy, and the bits of noise and sound effects thrown over them make them sound delightfully bizarre. When they do go oddball though, they go for the gusto. I'm listening to a song called "The Immediate Stages of the Erotic" that is a fucking trip. It has this repetitive drum beat that sounds like conga drums. Then they have this noise that sounds like electricity (I'm guessing it's some kind of feedback) that goes in and out while the vocalist just tortures his throat and screams here there and everywhere, not wholly unlike Diamanda Galas. Then there's the random dude shouting random syllables in the background every so often. It pretty much sets the standard for any song that wants to explicitly sound like some dude being tortured by electrocution.

Not everything on here is necessarily essential, but there's enough truly good stuff on here that I definitely recommend this.

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