Phil Dirt - Reverb Central - PO Box 1609, Felton, CA 95018-1609 USA Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks - Taste The Wup At Oki Dog
 | This overtly machine music album from Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks is superb. I can see some of these tracks ending up in some gothic horror tale on celluloid. If you're looking for trad, or even third wave, this is not your magic bullet. However, if you appreciate stark imagery, industrials futures, and compelling soundscapes, Taste The Wup At Oki Dog is a hell of an album. Gradually darkening images with occasional surfisms. |
Picks: Oddball, International Bob, AccoKeek, Assault On Decent Culture, We Deal In Style, Taste The Wup At Oki Dog, Atomic Powered Singing, Apache, (Not Exactly) Brill Building, Sharecropping, Dwarfed By Spector, Solna, Texas, Genesis, Stripsearched And Destroyed
Track by Track Review
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Dark and tweaky electro-imagery programmed for a spy's day off. The melody is very fluid and the arrangement haunting in an industrial kind of way. Instrumental sounds of a bleak future.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
"International Bob" is an adventurous song with a traveling sense, maybe like a vacation beyond the wasteland. The intrigue of the melody is made eerie by the mechanical nature of the rhythm, yet is organic and haunting. Very cool!
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Pulsing with electro-throb, "AccoKeek" has a relentless unemotional beat and an eerie Middle Eastern melody line. This most unusual track is haunting and slightly evil, and surely fits into a gothic dungeon.
Assault On Decent Culture Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
With spooky aural nods to Michael Oldfield, this song slowly evolves through light and romantic desperation into disturbed dreamscapes. The relentless ticking of the clock adds a feeling you're not going to get out of here -ever.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Gloom and cold stone as style, coupled with interesting percussion sequencing and pulsing bass, give "We Deal In Style" a surreal sound and quiet fury.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
"Taste The Wup At Oki Dog" has subtle espionage edges, and an overcast personality. It builds from gloom to subliminal threat, but never quite does you in. Eerie guitar feedback emanating from tortured notes and horrific imagery.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
"Atomic Powered Singing" is a slowly evolving pulse scape featuring subatomic particle choruses. Engaging in a tweaky sort of way, with some interesting evolutions.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
My-oh-my! I don't think Jerry Lordan meant this to happen, but then again, I suspect he would appreciate the creativity and artistry. This is perhaps the most original and compellingly different version of "Apache" out there. If robots needed their aural fix, this would be it. Wonderful!
(Not Exactly) Brill Building Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Hmmm... if you can imagine Carole King as an android (wait, she was!), and if you think Gerry Goffin was a closet surf-n-spy guitarist, then "(Not Exactly) Brill Building" just might catch your fancy. Spooky, eerie, haunted, and compelling, with near-surf guitar edging in from the outer limits.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
There's something unsettling about the juxtaposition of industrial pulsing and share croppers. Across the centuries, different cultures share their similarities, which are all too obvious once you recognize the resignation in both.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Ghosties in the dark, the minimal opposite of Phil, yet briefly and melodically referencing his walls or aural delight.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Great surf guitar and weirdness run amok in the soundwash that is "Solna, Texas." This wonderfully strange instrumental is just too inventive and catchy in its oddness. Splendid blends of incompatibles.
Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Opening with a recital of the Wolfman's speech from monochrome days gone by, "Genesis" moves through a pulse and delay wash of graveyards and moonless danger.
Stripsearched And Destroyed Industrial Future Surf (Instrumental)
Espionage guitar and chain gang imagery collide in this dark scene from a gulag somewhere beyond humanity. A relentless progression of movement ever deeper into a cul-de-sac.