Wizardzz – “Hidden City of Taurmond ” – [Load Records]

Thurston Hunger   3/23/2006   A Library, CD

Drum exercise tape from Brian Gibson of Lightning Bolt? This
time his battered half is a keyboard genie, Rich Porter from
Bug Sized Mind. Porter keeps things mostly shimmery, happy-
glow-lucky with occasional charged chords in wind tunnels in
some parts too, like the beginning of the last track, a live
version of “Mimi Vivian Sunrise.” It took a while, for me to
place this, but I think Porter’s sound is somewhere between
“Tormato” and “The Rockford Files” (some of that pitchwheel
wooziness). There are distal maniacal vocals stuffed in the
surfeit of sound at times, like on the stellar “Whispers From
Wallface.” Also a squisky (part squishy, part frisky)
vocode-a-yodel on “Jelipper-Lilly Field.” You know the other
thing this CD reminded me of was “Close Encounters of the
Third Kind” although there is nothing really alien here.
Heads up… floortoms up…snares up…cymbals crash on the
planet of the bass drum. Heavy yet happy. And a little
weird that way. -Thurston Hunger