The first side of the new Human Smoke tape recalls some influence of the nihilistic Carolina sludge of Buzzoven or Facedowninshit transposed on the ragged blues-punk of Dead Moon and The Dicks.
The first side of the new Human Smoke tape recalls some influence of the nihilistic Carolina sludge of Buzzoven or Facedowninshit transposed on the ragged blues-punk of Dead Moon and The Dicks.
Recorded by JK (“Jeeb”) at the Bike Lot, Human Smoke’s heavy, fuzzed riffs come to the front, while Mark’s howls come from somewhere just beyond an appropriately thick cloud of cosmic debris. The second side of the tape sounds like a Joose-drunk, sped up Flipper trudging through something you could almost shake an ass to. What was once the sound of blacking out at the Bonezone to stolen Sleep riffs, this Human Smoke has now got some rock’n’roll in its fuzz/blood, but sacrifices no character or stoniness in doing so. Eliza Childress provides the cover artwork with her ubiquitous black & white drawings of weeded creepiness; in this case what looks like Pope Benedict XVI chilling with some satisfied swine brethren.
Worth picking up when Human Smoke plays with the solid lineup of Radio Moscow, Naam, and Might Could, April 11 at the Triple. – J. Henry Russell
