DMBQ – The Essential Sounds From the Far East – Review

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The Essential Sounds From the Far East (Estrus)
by Craig Regala

Here a cow, there a cow, everywhere a rampaging ACID-DELIC FLYING FUCKING COW. I mean it, too. Look, I don’t know enough about Japan to start about the whats, whys, and wherefores, all I know is their underground hurls up the greatest brain-reducing wozzle-ass hard-rock acid-spizzle punk-fuckery funtime mirror to ever slip on a pair of bellbottoms and a Mohawk, dig? Power-hooting attack you’d expect from mere dullards drunk on hardcore crammed into pre-functional Blue Cheer, the first (sacred) Mudhoney EP, Flipper, a couple Cream riffs, the whole goddamn useful corpse of (non-metal) stoner rock, and a bushel of vintage drugs (tranks, ludes, white crosses, valiums).

What really makes it work is that it’s still rock music. Tense, taunt, expansive, and explosive, making for a safe home for any “talent” they may have. This four-piece have it. The energy level is high, the tunes have hooks, uh… kinda, and the whole thing is well-played/recorded. They even dip into some kinda phased-out flower-power acid rock ala The 13th Floor Elevators. As “out” as it seems for upchucked ’70s stuff, it holds together well.
(www.estrus.com)