Spacin’ – Deep Thuds
Having recently written kind words about Birds Of Maya and Purling Hiss the time has come to shed light on Spacin’ – possibly the best of this fine Philly trinity. Deep Thuds is the band’s debut LP and, simply, it rules for Birds Of Maya bassist Jason Killinger takes his parent band’s brand of super-crude shred and blends it seamlessly with hooky melodies borrowed from the sibling outfit led by Mike Polizze . The rest of the band comprises Sean Hamilton on bass, Paul Sukeena on lead guitar and Killinger’s wife Eva on drums and together (ironically enough given the apparent budget of the recording) they have a hint of Nick Hornby and his High Fidelity ‘s art of making the perfect mixtape.
As such, things start with a bang. The power-chord-happy “Empty Minds” creates a damn fine soup of 60s garage, nod-along chug and stoner-bred solos. Where you might expect things to then be taken up a notch however, Killinger heads off into an experimental, synth-led instrumental that wades through thick, kraut-ish ambience. There’s then a killer one-two before the minimal “Oh, Man” again derails the riff train with its near-Afro dub and Sun Araw -style psyche.
Track listing of this nature is a skill, allowing both “Wrong Street” and “Chest Of Steel” to shine in the middle order, their tape-deck warp barely disguising barbed riffs but doing a better job with the downright impenetrable lyrics. Such a lull also lets “Sunshine No Shoes” fully unleash its mesmeric Stones-meets-glam crunch, which if it were cleaned up and beamed in from the 70s would be by now a mainstay on every classic-rock FM. All the same, it’s nevertheless but a gateway to the hard-rock of “Ego-Go”, which soon riffs its way into gnarly psyche territory with a devastatingly guitar-heavy crescendo.
Though this is instinctive rock made out of necessity and hunger its natural habitat is amongst children of peace and love. There was a story going round recently about some kids who reportedly found an unmarked cassette in the back of a police car and later released it exactly as they found it. If someone were to find Deep Thuds under the seat of some ageing hippy’s station wagon you get the impression they’d be more than made up, man.
Advised downloads: “Ego-Go” and “Empty Minds”.
~The re-released version of Deep Thuds (with altered artwork thanks to a cease-and-desist order from the Rolling Stones’ legal team) is out now on Agitated .~