Moon Duo – “Killing Time EP” – [Sacred Bones Records]

Thurston Hunger   7/21/2010   12-inch, A Library

Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) and Sanae Yamada pump out primeval psychoactive pummel pop. Atavistic attack, the drums set on auto-pilot
and these songs just tunnel through to the center of the planet. Title track has vox from a phasey graveyard over a muzzled mantra. They’re all about the analog cobwebs over the repeato riffage. Verses are curses, and all the bridges are out. Set the controls for the center of the moon. Keep the songs simple (though the band’s sonic influences are complex). Minutemen get a second in the lyrics of “Killing Time” and “Speed” works on an Alan Vega calibrated delay. “Dead West” has two chords buried beneath an avalanche of fuzz, and “Ripples” has a sleepwalker sleep drumming, an instrumental to push the belly button lint right out the other side.

-Thurston Hunger