"Goya’s grey trees with their astral jelly / The painted death mask of Liza Minnelli"
Rorschach Rorschach by the Bristol (UK) apocalyptic art-punk Erotic Secrets of Pompeii is a feral, tribal sharp piece of punkery. I have said often that (to me) songs are sonic Rorschach tests that we as listeners throw our emotional baggage onto, all our pain, glorious epic tirades, kissed and bitten lips, pure joy and everything in between, our lives and our perceptions on other peoples sonic art. Did I mention I like the Beatles?
I thought about that as ESOP bombarded my senses with what feels like an utter rabid stream of consciousness splayed out like someones eviscerated psyche. The result is as audacious as it is beautiful with dark askew lyrics creating even darker imagery with the pounding patina of screaming guitar lines, killing bass and drums with ferocious vox coloring every syllable with a sort of questioning disdain. It is exquisitely visceral stuff, a bloody spotlit, guilt ridden series of askew dioramas of our sins that feel like a nucleic acidic stir of artists, auteurs (and dark visionaries) like Charles Bukowski, David Cronenberg, Robert Mapplethorpe, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Tropical Fuck Storm and The Dead Kennedys.
"I see the Turin shroud, Kennedy’s brain
That fatal moment in the limousine
Are those my hands – the blood of a martyr
A star implodes, Vagina Dentata
An oil spill off the coast of Milwaukee
The clouds align over Nagasaki
Proteinaceous fruit from the cosmic tree – I see, I see"
That fatal moment in the limousine
Are those my hands – the blood of a martyr
A star implodes, Vagina Dentata
An oil spill off the coast of Milwaukee
The clouds align over Nagasaki
Proteinaceous fruit from the cosmic tree – I see, I see"
Amid, the scorched earth guitars there are prescient stabs, a flitter of keys, chunky, absolutely delicious staccato guitar rhythms, and oddly wonderful padded cell piano notes bolstered by taunting guitar lines that sound, at once, like surf guitar gone awry and bullies in the school yard. Did I mention that I like the Beatles?
Rorschach Rorschach' was recorded at Coach House Studio, Bristol. Produced by Tom Hackwell, mixed by Sam Blighe, engineered by Ruben Garcia Mesa. The Official Video directed and edited by Saul Knight (https://vimeo.com/user38812607) is wonderful, shot in black and white, with a dance like a possession and cool imagery BUT I implore you to not view the video first. Experience this song, first, (only) with your eyes closed and see what muck your own brain draws up.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
Erotic Secrets of Pompeii are an apocalyptic art-punk band from Bristol, UK, who wind post-punk and experimental rock together like two ends of a fraying rope.
Their transgressive songs ring with disparate elements - from industrial to world music. The vocals descend from baritone drawl to manic yelp as erratically as the music pivots from catchy groove-based euphony to discord and angulation.
FFO: Talking Heads, Nick Cave, IDLES, Black Midi, Protomartyr, Viagra Boys, Pixies, Captain Beefheart, Tropical Fuck Storm, Daughters, The Fall.
Goya’s grey trees with their astral jelly / The painted death mask of Liza Minnelli
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