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Wolf Eyes, "Burned Mind"
Sub Pop
As I watched Throbbing Gristle perform for the first time in over twodecades, many thoughts rushed through my head. The one which is mostrelevant to this review is that I believe the most popular aggressive,noisy acts who get heralded for their "experimentalism" actuallyexploit the most simple tactics. While the audience on the floor wasthrilled to be there, loving every minute of TG's set from the (false!)start, it was the beats that drove them nuts. People love beats andthey love repetition. They love to sing along when they know the wordsthat are coming up and they love to pound fists into the air and dance.Wolf Eyes' signing to Sub Pop isn't all that strange given they'veperhaps got a lot more commercial potential than other friends/comradessuch as Black Dice and Animal Collective, since they embrace beats tosuch a blistering degree. The disc opens with the brief cacophonousintro "Dead in a Boat," an all-out white noise to the wall hate fest,then launches into their feel good hit of the summer, the pouding andpulsing "Stabbed In the Face." After another short beat-less piece, thegroup come back with "Village Oblivia," another fists in the air dancefest. Another brief track bridges the album to the next full-realizedsong, "Rattlesnake Shake," and this time it's as if Wolf Eyes arescoring a brutally vicious nightmare. The low rumble is like anoversized military aircraft piercing the night, eager to unleashdestruction. At high enough volumes I'm sure the hum is enough to shakewax from the ears. Don't expect to be singing along with Wolf Eyestunes easily, however, as the occasional vocal appearances are putthrough the same junk pile of machines that create the rest of thegritty audio sludge on their records. The album sort of ends with thealmost party jam of "Black Vomit." Here, the full, rich sound of noisescoupled with abrasive vocals easily makes nearly every singlepost-post-post-post industrial "musician" (picture black pants withtons of zippers) look like a pussy. Wolf Eyes have done something manybands have tried to achieve but fell short: make something evil enoughto irritate parents (just as soon as they've finally accepted metal andhip hop) and both dirty and sexy enough for the ultimate release.
As I watched Throbbing Gristle perform for the first time in over twodecades, many thoughts rushed through my head. The one which is mostrelevant to this review is that I believe the most popular aggressive,noisy acts who get heralded for their "experimentalism" actuallyexploit the most simple tactics. While the audience on the floor wasthrilled to be there, loving every minute of TG's set from the (false!)start, it was the beats that drove them nuts. People love beats andthey love repetition. They love to sing along when they know the wordsthat are coming up and they love to pound fists into the air and dance.Wolf Eyes' signing to Sub Pop isn't all that strange given they'veperhaps got a lot more commercial potential than other friends/comradessuch as Black Dice and Animal Collective, since they embrace beats tosuch a blistering degree. The disc opens with the brief cacophonousintro "Dead in a Boat," an all-out white noise to the wall hate fest,then launches into their feel good hit of the summer, the pouding andpulsing "Stabbed In the Face." After another short beat-less piece, thegroup come back with "Village Oblivia," another fists in the air dancefest. Another brief track bridges the album to the next full-realizedsong, "Rattlesnake Shake," and this time it's as if Wolf Eyes arescoring a brutally vicious nightmare. The low rumble is like anoversized military aircraft piercing the night, eager to unleashdestruction. At high enough volumes I'm sure the hum is enough to shakewax from the ears. Don't expect to be singing along with Wolf Eyestunes easily, however, as the occasional vocal appearances are putthrough the same junk pile of machines that create the rest of thegritty audio sludge on their records. The album sort of ends with thealmost party jam of "Black Vomit." Here, the full, rich sound of noisescoupled with abrasive vocals easily makes nearly every singlepost-post-post-post industrial "musician" (picture black pants withtons of zippers) look like a pussy. Wolf Eyes have done something manybands have tried to achieve but fell short: make something evil enoughto irritate parents (just as soon as they've finally accepted metal andhip hop) and both dirty and sexy enough for the ultimate release.
