16-17 – “When All Else Fails…” – [Savage Land]

Max Level   1/8/2013   A Library, CD

Crazy-ass skronk trio out of Switzerland, circa 1988-89, recorded live straight from the mixing board. Sax, electric guitar, drums, and all kinds of additional electronic mayhem. Every track has a repetitive, primal 4/4 beat, which kind of grated on me after a while, but that’s all right–these guys aren’t exactly trying to be cuddly and make new friends here, so grating is OK. #5 & 6 change up the beat a bit but not much. I guess John Zorn might be one reference point here; picture him getting all outside on his sax, accompanied by a laundromat dryer with nothing but a couple of hammers in it. Like that. Sax torturer Alex Buess adds ranting vocals on #2, 3, 4, 6. Recordings remastered by Weasel Walter; you just knew he had to be involved in this abusive project somehow.