I'll spare you all some sorta silly piano intro and just say I think Santa Barbara's Dry Rot might be the most intriguing music group in America today. Their first seven song seven inch entitled 'Permission' was released sometime in the summer/fall area of last year and was utterly confusing. The first side consisted of six quick jabs that actually waranted the name checks of Void, Deep Wound and Child Abuse (The band from long ago who released a single on Mutha, not the pee-pee pants noise band from now) The other side was this real long jam that just sounded like a lost meander from 'Daydream Nation'. Was this the same record? Most who I played it to just shook their heads in question, but I was right there with them. I played the record over and over gazing into the lyric sheet that accompanyed the thing. Who are these guys with their bizarro, cryptic doodlings of fat old men barfing in peoples' faces? What kind of person would write lyrics like 'Don't touch me or I'll bite your fingers off!'? Why did they feel it was improtant to know the single was recorded the day after Hitler's 117th birthday? Even though I have touched base with a member or two of the band and I'm still left curious....Then what comes in the mailbox yesterday but their new two song single on the Deer Healer label. Limited to 300, already long gone in it's one week in the virtual public eye known as the interweb...too bad suckers! This was the first in a long, long time that I was about to throw something on the turntable and not know what to expect. That was a good feeling. The A Side was a jam featuring a cameo by a member of Sublime (on sax) and the singers' dad on bass. It sounded like a very inept/simplistic (take your pick) take on 'The Great Gig In The Sky'. This was far from the world of puking old men drawings and finger biting. I actually listened to it again to make sure I heard it right. I've listened to it a few times since then and I'm still not sure if I did. The B Side was a perfect fit with me right off the bat. A weirder, more Psychedelic slowburner with random organ whirls poking in and out. The jam eventually erupts into a total freak-out throb that would scare the pants off anyone...even you over there with the turtleneck sweater and the leggings. To think what they might come up with on their next single (To be released on Painkiller) is making me hafta squegee my thoroughly handsome bald head every ten minutes. They'll be around the east coast in August to play, so hopefully I'll see ya there. Look out for me...I'll be the thoroughly ugly guy with the thoroughly handsome bald head.
I'm pretty sure Painkiller still has copies of the first single for sale. They might get a few copies of the new one in a few weeks...who knows? Check it out--
http://www.painkillerrecords.com/
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