Buccinator
The Great Painter Raphael (Basura/Priority)
by Paul Lee
There’s a feeling you get when you drop from a massive aerial height and your brain just about leaves its casing. Such is the feeling when you listen to Buccinator‘s aural emission, The Great Painter Raphael (Basura/Priority). Kind of a rush mixed with painful disorientation. There’s something to get here – maybe bizarre subliminal messages within all the nerve-frying music.
Sound bites are chopped ‘n’ blended with screwy geetars ‘n’ the usual rock gear, plus some shortwave radio and Moog action. These folks pulverize the usual alternarock format. Their riffs are darn near unholy with distortion and fuzz from their guitars aplenty. Imagine blowing up Dead Kennedys, taking the pieces and throwing them into a blender with the leftovers of Helios Creed, and tossing in a few pieces of The Germs for good measure.
If song titles are any indication of bizarreness, check out “Velvet Humpers,” “Jippy,” “Discipline the Fireman,” “Wind Blows Still,” and “Fruitcake.” Even if you could understand the lyrics, they might threaten your health and sanity. It makes for gripping music if you can endure the psychosis.