Thee Oh Sees
Carrion Crawler / The Dream (In the Red)
Reviewed by Greg Beets, Fri., March 16, 2012
Thee Oh Sees
Carrion Crawler/The Dream EP (In the Red)This John Dwyer-led, San Francisco collective's jagged psych-punk has always been ear catching, but this ups the ante. Initially conceived as two separate EPs, Thee Oh Sees' second album in less than a year maintains a squall of fuzzed-out freak rock in the service of hook-laden songs. The opening title track siphons Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd through a flammable sieve of Memphis, Tenn., garage primitivism, while the second song is a mind-bending guitar/organ swirl propelled by double drummers locked in a breakneck pace for nearly seven minutes. Play this while driving and you'll exceed posted speed limits. "Opposition (With Maracas)" and "Wrong Idea" dilate the pupils of two-minute garage punk, and "Contraption/Soul Desert" crosses an insistent Krautrock pulse with Spacemen 3 guitar immolation. Yet another highlight hits with "Crack in Your Eye," which tempers an unsettling drone with airworthy Roger McGuinn-style splinters. (Wed., 9pm, Red 7 Patio, 1:10am, Beauty Bar Backyard)
