OH SEES, THEE 'Carrion Crawler / The Dream'

THEE OH SEES chase the home-brewed symphonies of 'Castlemania' with the scrappy, high-wire hooks of 'Carrion Crawler / The Dream'. Originally envisioned as two eps, it was cut live to tape in less than a week at Chris Woodhouse's Sacramento studio, reflecting the battering-ram bent of the band's live show better than any bootleg ever could. that it does, whether one blasts the slow, speaker-bruising build of 'The Dream,' the sunburnt organs and dovetailing guitars of "Crack in your Eye" or the interstellar instrumental "Chem-Farmer,"" a perfect example of what happens when one takes a well-oiled machine - a gang of rabid road warriors, really - and adds a second, groove-locked drum set to the mix. to listen is to realize that dwyer's music is as manic as the underground comic inclinations of his artwork; colourful and confusing in a way that's more than welcome. it's downright refreshing, like a slap in the face at 5:00 in the morning.