Fifty Tons of Black Terror
My Idle Hands (Beggars Banquet)
by Craig Regala
The cover is a beautifully-shot pic of a hand holding a glass, looks like whiskey ma!, with a few drops of blood on one of the digits. Coupled with the title, that should give you the general sleaze parameters. The music, words, and singing all sync up like a Touch & Go band from ten years gone. A big, booming, bass-loaded (not hip-hop or rockin’-style grooves though) kind of tension and release that recalls The Birthday Party, The U-men, Mule, Laughing Hyenas, and the Scratch Acid/Jesus Lizard continuum. Stuff that’s obviously latched onto the gruesome side of blues/country-based rock action, but divorced from anything besides the riffs and base rhythmic structure. It also reminds me of the Brit band, Silverfish, when they hooked up with Foetus for their Organ Fan disc.
Pull it all up thru the big, wallowing bottom David Sardy is known for, especially on Barkmarket’s L. Ron. Thing is, on L. Ron, the tunes seem to be commentary on certain behaviors and actions, whereas on this piece, well, they’d rather just dive into all the fun and wake up and write about the feeling. It’s not like you can actually write about “what happened” in a black-out, ya know? If they simmered down and put on a fresh scarf, they could bounce around Tindersticks decadent/dandy habitat – they definitely have a good touch with, uh, ballads, if that’s what they’re called.
I think they’re Brits – the words and how the bits o’ melody are glued together have “that kinda lurch,” sounding kinda unnatural for an American. (This puts some real space between the US bands mentioned above and the worn-out blues rock and simplistic punk rock/hardcore traditions.) They (the natural born Americans) sounded too alien on their own turf. Whereas the unnatural is naturally delivered on My Idle Hands. Man, one tune just locks down on the U-mens’, “Too Good To Be Food.” Hey, that’s good news guys! No killer tunes, but a good overall haul, especially since the sound and feel isn’t commonplace nowadays.
(www.beggars.com)
