A Shining Example of Heavy Innovation
Splitting singles, E.P's and albums is a longstanding musical tradition. Don't believe me? Guess how Queens of the Stone Age got their start. That's right, on an E.P split between themselves and Josh Homme's previous band Kyuss, both of whom rock harder than a landslide on Everest. But when it comes to talking about this particular single, split between the Nuevo-grunge outfit Black Moth and London's fuzz masters XM-3a, the case becomes slightly different. For a start it'll only be released on 7 inch clear vinyl, which is frankly all groovy and exciting for a vinyl jockey like myself, but may be more than a little troublesome for those of you who vehemently stick by the MP3 and the iPod. It's almost like the NHS (New Heavy Sound records) wants it to be difficult to listen to these bands. Let me tell you that the difficulty is worth it. When you slip that record out of its case and place it cautiously on the turntable, it becomes less like listening to music and more like a religious ceremony. And both these songs will force upon you a mighty revelation.
Black Moth– "Spit Out Your Teeth"
That title says it all don't you think? Spit Out Your Teeth. A title with all the conviction of David Cronenberg's body horror movies and all the aggravation of a wino at a traditional ale festival. This Leeds garage punk band has recently gone through something of a transformation though, leaving their sound raw and sexy, mixing the overall aesthetic of the Melvins with the grit and pound of early doom metal progenitors Pentagram. Black Moth have a female vocalist too, Harriet Hyde, who quite frankly has killed any preconceptions I have had previously of female vocalists being a little bit lame. That's something I'm not afraid to admit because her voice snaps at you. Hyde's beautiful vocal lilt clicks in place with the hefty mix of notes straight from Satan's locker. Also, while we're on the subject of metal clichés, the liner notes that accompanied the copy that I'm listening to right now states that the band has "hooks so sharp you could swing a corpse on them." How frigging cool is that? "Spit Out Your Teeth" is simply 4 minutes and 11 seconds of some of the heaviest lust driven doom and gloom riffage I've heard since The Stooges covered Cream's Sunshine of Your Love. You may even get a musical erection.
XM-3a– "It's Possible."
Despite being one of "those" bands that insists on having a complicated name, the band's music has some kind of great simplicity that other musicians have overlooked. Strange then that this simple song (albeit pulsating with a metallic funk that sounds like a cocaine comedown) follows the release of their last single which was a 9 minute acid-psyche epic. Strange? Maybe. But I propose that this band is able to get away with it all because they constantly dish out the unexpected. XM-3a has an accomplished keyboardist and their debut album will be about a dystopian future following the coming techno-war. See what I mean? Unexpected, simple, yet totally awesome.