Dead Rider – “Raw Dents, The” – [Tizona]

Weird amalgam of rock styles, poured out slow and thick.
Breathy vocals from Todd Rittmann (having oozed out of US
Maple) are not desperate so much as aimed at eliciting
desperation in the listener. Go ahead, they say, leave your
friend lying on the rocks by the beach for the seagulls and
ants (literally on “Why I Only Take Baths”). They lyrics hint
of some kind of code, something beneath the muck. But the muck
is quite gorgeous, The synth in particular is filthy, courtesy
of Andrea Faught from Cheer-Accident. Often her synth is
sputtering furry blurballs of analog chunks. And it drops down
for low-end bass replacement sometimes so pummeled out it sounds like more percussion. And this on a record where three folks offer percussion at times. Rittmann also offers guitar which
draws flavors from Jesus Christ Superstar to something that felt
like Mott the Hoople on a solo or two. Or maybe that’s the
desperation talking. Some of the more enjoyable guitar solos
in ages. Thymme Jones’ trumpet and?? some sax are also spun into the morass, a harmonica?? too washes up. And broken glass, it’s as if things were swept off the club floor at 4 am and incorporated. That or maybe this is the first album of oil spill rock? Even the pretty in pink vinyl has blue bled impurities infecting it. Good enough for
all, but us diry birds are going to frolic the most here.

-Thurston Hunger