Laundry

Black Tongue (Prawn Song/Mammoth)
by Elizabeth Parker

Ooh. Laundry features Herb Alexander, drummer from Primus and singer Tobias Hawkins (a founding member of the thoroughly odious Black Crowes who had the good sense to leave). Ian Variale adds percussive bass lines with a Chapman Stick.

Laundry blends industrial rage with jazz sensibilities for a high-impact sound with dark undertones. The techno-twitterings and bantering guitar licks on Black Tongue (Prawn Song/Mammoth) blaze in a fire storm of howling vocals, propulsive drums and dark, molten bass notes. Also of interest is the song “19,” a sinister spoken-word piece featuring Don Bajema, a poet from the San Francisco area. The press release informs me that Laundry has some credits on a few indie film soundtracks including Chalk. It also seems to be in vogue these days to compare artists to Robert Fripp, regardless of what they really sound like.