EP REVIEW / TWO SUNS (***)"DEAD SEA" /
INDEPENDENT RELEASE /
TWIN EARTH STUDIOWoweee look at me, I'm writing CD reviews and shit! or reviewing whatever the fuck format they're released on now: vinyl,
cassette,
pretty much anything stupidly anachronistic you fickle hipsters are obsessing over in 2011? (phonograph wax cylinders,
C64 chiptunes anyone!? pfft!). And as for why? WELL WHY THE FUCK NOT DUUUDES!? It's a brand new year, I figured I'd try out something new, and what? is that chirping crickets I hear!? WELL SCREW YOU IDIOTS, I'M DOING THIS SHIT ANYWAYS!! (please don't hate me). But before I DO proceed to do that, a friendly note of warning. Reviewing a CD
is not like reviewing a live show (but don't worry
I'll still be doing plenty of those). There are no crowds here, no flashing lights, no free flowing ales, herbs or funny pills to get you in the "mood",
no sense of occassion to give you that overwhelming feeling of giddy euphoria for being part of "something special" (
or alienating hipster indifference if you happen to frequent too many "buzz band" shows at The Ed Castle, The Metro or Format where it's all about fashion blogs, fixed gear bikes and which highschool you went to) there ARE NO distractions fullstop! It's just you and the music alone in a hermetically sealed environment battling it out, it's reviewing music in its purist (
sometimes heavily caffeinated/overworked/sleep deprived) form. So YES I will be an utter bastard by comparison, I will judge your music according to the highest standards of every other example of recorded music out there: not just locally
but everywhere in space and time and yes I'll be doing it sober... and more importantly? I will ONLY be offering you my personal opinion. So if I sound like a complete idiot? (
which granted I probably will) please take it with a grain of salt and judge for yourself? And so with that out of the way, let's have at it with our first victim Two Suns...
Yup those of you familiar with them from the Adelaide scene,
or just from the hyperbolent crap I've been writing about them for the past two years (because yes they're fucking tops) would know Two Suns for their full throttle psychedelic live shows.
That special kind of "category five" skull rapage in triple digit decibels: fuck full of primal screaming, shredding guitars fed through a billion effects pedals, hypnotic bass dronings (that sound like whales having exploding orgasms) backed by a kitchen sink of moodswing percussion that you could easily get lost in for days (and weeks) on end attempting to unravel it: that wizard bongs, 24 hour convenience store hotdogs and frozen coke slushies were pretty much invented for... which is just as well really, considering every one of their songs
appear to take no less than 20 minutes to "get to the fucking point already"; or at the very least until they provide a seamless segue into the next insanely elaborate 20 minute space jam *phew*. In short they don't know the meaning of "short" (or quite like me attempting to describe them just now).
Which makes this their first EP all the funnier to behold; as it's only 12 minutes long. "WUH!? RIPPED OFF!!". Yup, recorded by Jon McNichol at Twin Earth Studio (
keyboardist from The Asteroid Belt in case you're curious) "Dead Sea" is not so much an EP as a single, or simply the same song "Dead Sea" split into two parts with a bonus "live studio jam" conclusion (and yet they still insist on calling it an "EP"!? HA HA HA AWESOME!!). But for what it surely lacks in length, it more than makes up for in impact. For "Dead Sea" is the sound of both your ears being fucked by a flamethrower fed through a kaleidoscope; it's psychedelia at it's most savagely visceral, vitriolic and violently cathartic; or rather like Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" remixed by Trent Reznor with the distortion cranked on full; or about as far removed
from Tame Impala's brand of barefoot happy sunshine psyche as you could possibly get without the accompanying tie-dyed blood splatter and a questioning glare from the relevant authorities. From the opening dizzy swirl of Mathias Northway's guitar, Ben Smith's battle drumming and Davison Jone's droning bass rhythm in
"Dead Sea Pt. 1" it churns and churns and whips itself into psychotic frenzy; slips seamlessly into second song
"Dead Sea" amping up the diabolical churn with Mathias's vocals: as much as it sound more like a disembodied seance or a full blown intestinal purge than actual singing (yet it's all the more eerily compelling for it); only to slip into their third song
"Dead Sea (Live Studio Jam)" that acts as the contemplative coda: winding all that energy back into the proverbial genie bottle just as its getting good; I mean it's almost annoying how quickly it comes to an abrupt end... but to its credit it doesn't feel any less epic for it (in fact it rather sounds like the ultimate filmscore to a fire belching dragon battling ninjas in a post apocalyptic wasteland
as directed by Zack Snyder on a fuckload of meth amphetamine shrunk into 12 minutes... no mean feat). Jon McNichol's production here is no thrills bare to the bone, opting for a "live feel" more than anything else: but as much as it doesn't add anything to it, it never detracts from it either, giving you nothing but a 100% raw translation of their live show transmitted through your teeny tiny ipod earphones. So all in all for what little is offered? it's still a promising start... and better yet?
you can download it all for free. Two Suns "Dead Sea". Give it a spin (follow the links below) and lemme know what you think?
AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH: TWOSUNSMUSIC.NET /
TRIPLE J UNEARTHEDPreviously on Spoz's Rant:
Previously (Not) On Spoz's Rant... 
