Boundary
pushing garage fuzz from Italy. Not your average three chord rattle
and rush.
It
would be nice to be able to say that this self-titled debut LP by
Sultan Bathery is something of a concept album. It isn't, unless that
concept is putting together twelve tracks of psychedelic, yet poppy
garage-rock that do away with any genre-based expectations and take
things to an altogether more interesting place.
It's
garage certainly, the cheap stompbox fuzz and Link Wray guitar lines
take care of that. But perhaps more garage-pop than garage-rock, with
an added dash of speedy freakbeat, all twisted through a haze of
incense or hooka-pipe smoke.
Melody
is as important as sonic assault, which when presented via detached,
English-as-second-language vocals ups the record's pop quota, albeit
pop that sneers. The vocal melodies seem simple at first, though
deeper investigation reveals something altogether more complex and
involved.
Its
the inventive guitar work, and slightly off-kilter riffs that lie at
the heart of the album's appeal however. From the clattering punk
rush of opening track Satellite, complete with Dick Dale surf guitar
and on through the remaining eleven tracks, it's a real trip daddio!
Like a gutsier version of Triptides they take the template of late
'60s psych-pop and make it modern and contemporary.
The
boxy garage production values may hamper any cross-over appeal, and
unfortunately it's safe to say they won't be headlining Glastonbury
this year. But for the initiated, at least we can have them as our
favourite secret band for a while longer. Like the soundtrack to some
cheap late '60s sci-fi series, it's a nice, slightly retro affair.
Like a sound whose time has finally come.
Click here for Sultan
Bathery on Facebook.
Sultan Bathery is out now on SlovenlyRecords.
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