Writhing Squares - Chart For The Solution - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Writhing Squares have been conjuring up cosmic slop from the Philadelphia underground for a few years now, mixing growling bass, motorik synthesis, and skronking sax into a heady brew of punk-laced progressive R'n'R. The duo of Daniel Provenzano & Kevin Nickles emerged in 2015 with their self-released InchGemini BluesInch 7-nch, following it up the next year with their debut album InchIn The Void AboveInch for the renowned Siltbreeze imprint. InchOut of The EtherInch is their sophomore effort, & first for Trouble In Mind. The album consists of 5 tracks of minimal, droning ambience, overtaken at times by Nickles' wailing, sax skronk; a mixture of the soulful runs of The Stooges' Steve McKay & the no-wave stabs of James Chance - drum machine, and Provenzano's guttural basslines that add an industrial menace to a locked-in groove and lysergicly introspective lyrics. Album closer InchA Whole New JupiterInch takes up all of the LP version's side two, slingshotting the listener over the event horizon and thru the center of a sonically sculpted black hole, it's relentless motorik dirge evolving over the course of the track's 19-minute run time into an abstract pulse before lurching back into the groove, riding it into the sun.

Writhing Squares - the Philadelphia duo of Kevin Nickles (sax, flute, synth) & Daniel Provenzano (bass, vocals) - have been refining the nuts & bolts of their sound over their previous two albums. Their latest (and second for Trouble In Mind), InchChart For The SolutionInch is a double album chock full what makes them tick; heady, progressive, psychedelic space-rock-cum-minimal synth slop, punctuated by MacKay/Chance-style blasts of brass & woodwinds that definitely scratch an itch. Over the course of InchChart For The SolutionInchs four sides, Nickles & Provenzano utilize the extended to stretch out & settle into a groove all their own. From the relentless synth pulse of opener InchRogue MoonInch, thru the aggro-throb of InchGeisterwaltzInch & four-on-the-floor scree of InchGanymedeInch, The Squares have no mercy for your weary ears. After a brief, (slightly) mellow respite thru three tunes (InchThe Abyss Is Never BrighterInch/InchA Chorus of ElectronsInch/InchThe LibraryInch), the band ratchets up the intensity with the cacophonous clatter of InchNFUInch (featuring Philly legend InchHarmonicaInch Dan Balcer RIPPING thru runs on his harp) leading right into the album's centerpiece; all of Side Three's InchThe PillarInch, a near-nineteen minute epic suite that launches the listener straight into the maw of a black hole & thru the other side. Side Four closes out InchChart For The SolutionInch starting with the slinky stomp of InchNorth Side of The SkyInch into InchResurrect Dead On Planet WhateverInchs unsettling, cosmic-funeral dirge. Fittingly, InchEpilogueInch closes out the album, with Nickles' sax dive bombing around Provenzano's bass throb like an alien interpretation of InchFunhouseInchs howling anarchy,augmented by live drums by John Schoemaker & organ by Alex Ward. Recorded by the band themselves & utilizing recordings made from 2015 all the way thru earlie

The Real McKenzies - Westwinds [VINYL LP] date 03/27/2012