Spectrum--War Sucks-CDEP-2009-UBE

Spectrum - War Sucks (EP)

Label: Mindexpansion Rec
Style: Psychedelic Rock
Grabber: EAC
Encoder: LAME
Quality: VBR/44,1kHz
Reldate: 04.Jan.2011
Street: 24.Apr.2009
Songs: 04

Release Notes:

With ex-Spacemen 3 mainman Sonic Boom's Spectrum outfit
currently on tour in America, there's also a new four-song
EP from the group, which includes at any given time Sonic
(a/k/a Pete Kember), Randall Nieman, Nolan Watkinson, Iain
Worrall and Roger Brogan -- for the EP the musicians were
Sonic, Watkinson and Brogan. "[The band is] sounding the
best it has since S3 days," Sonic told me last year in an
interview, and on the evidence of the four new recordings
here, it's clear that devotees of the classic
drone-and-fuzztone Spacemen 3 sound, equal parts hard skronk
overdrive and blissed-out dreampop, will have precious
little argument with his assessment

War Sucks is issued on Detroit Space Rock City's venerable
Mind Expansion label (not so coincidentally operated by
Nieman, who is also the main force behind psychedelicists
Fuxa) and arrives in an eye-popping Ivan Liechti sleeve
based on the zig-zag "Razzle-Dazzle" deception camouflage
employed by the military back during the first two World
Wars. (Vinyl fans, the 12-inch edition of the EP, featuring
colored wax, will be available in May.) The title track, of
course, is a cover of the Red Krayola song from 1967 debut
The Parable of Arable Land, and yes, fans with long memories
will recall that two decades ago S3 tapped that same LP for
a brilliant interpretation of "Transparent Radiation
Spectrum's treatment of "War Sucks" is appropriately
apocalyptic, a nightmarish upriver journey into a m lange of
feedback, clipped guitar chords, horror-flick organ and
screeching/whorling sound effects, plus Sonic's trademark
echoey/doubled vocal incantations. When the Krayola first
recorded the song the Vietnam War was raging; clearly some
songs were tailor-made for rediscovery by new generations

Elsewhere, "Razzle Dazzle Mind" is a thundering instrumental
copping some well-worn Stooges riffs (much like early S3 did
with its own material) and ramming em through a synth
sieve; reportedly a vocal version is being prepped for
inclusion on Spectrum full-length, due later this year. Then
comes a segued pair of tunes, Laurie Anderson's "Walking &
Falling" (from her 1982 LP Big Science), and Spectrum
original "Over and Over." The former tune suits the band
perfectly; unlike in Anderson's quirky version, Sonic's
murmured/recited vocal meshes well with the backing music, a
neon-lit cocoon of gently pulsing aquatica. And as it slowly
eases into "Over and Over," don't be surprised if you find
yourself drifting back to S3 Playing With Fire days; the
tune's purposeful throb, delicate fretboard pluckings and
steadily rising keyboard drones mark it a direct descendant
of PWF's Sonic-penned "How Does It Feel?"

Significantly, War Sucks also hearkens to some of the work
Sonic was doing under the Spectrum moniker in the early
90s, in particular his first post-S3 release, 1992's Soul
Kiss (Glide Divine), and 1994's Highs, Lows & Heavenly
Blows. And as the first "proper" Spectrum-the-band release
in ages - last year's Indian Giver was a collaborative
summit with Jim Dickinson - file War Sucks under a big
"welcome back" banner: some things never go out of fashion
Standout Tracks: "War Sucks," "Over and Over" FRED MILLS

www.sonic-boom.info
www.myspace.com/spectrumofficialpage

FUCKN GREAT STUFF!

Track List:

01. War Sucks 06:17
02. Razzle-Dazzle Mind 04:26
03. Walking and Falling 03:50
04. Over and Over 04:43

Total
19:16 min