Den
Electric Eyes [7-inch; Retrograde]

Might be the best record of a sturdy batch of late. Den’s Electric Eyes 7-inch is mean, mighty, quick with the sword; they can rumble slow and hard or they can jam it a bit. Either way the sturdy James Plotkin (who engineers every record I review now) mix allows the project to digress without losing the buzz. These guys are super-stoned without being annoying about it, angry without being melodramatic about it, and heavy as shit-balls without being all ‘metal’ about it; it’s like Sleep/OM and Melvins with Acid Mothers Temple sound effects sprinkled over top. Curiously satisfying, it is. When those trippy effects flutter in you wonder why they don’t just drape a few layers more just for good measure, but that might be why it works in the first place; they don’t milk it to death. I don’t like the hippy-dippy jam-bam of “Spectrum Shock” initially, and the Muppet vocals don’t do anything to change my mind (though the track gets pretty crazy later on, I must admit). Hey, they can’t all be winners. An interesting new band, Den are. With them, the force be.

Links: Den - Retrograde

Cerberus

Cerberus seeks to document the spate of home recorders and backyard labels pressing limited-run LPs, 7-inches, cassettes, and objet d’art with unique packaging and unknown sound. We love everything about the overlooked or unappreciated. If you feel you fit such a category, email us here.

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