Review: Muck and the Mires "Hypnotic"
Dirty Water Records have another release out, and this time, it sees them gambling with their hand. Muck and the Mires, and their new LP, 'Hypnotic', moves away from 2 minute fuzz cuts and toward a more... mature... territory.
Featured on this new cut is 4 'suites'. The first looking at 'Birth', the second at 'Soul', the third investigating 'Death' and the fourth, 'Rebirth'. Since Muck and the Mires got with spiritual leader, Mahja Rine, they've eschewed quick kicks in favour of a "deeper level of understandin'" and creating "opuses for the silver thread, dangled from space, to each and everyone of our heads." The guitar has been sent to the back of the studio (or 'sent to heaven' as seen on the LP cover) in favour of baroque instruments like the Viol and lute. It's an ambitious thought process and completely fictional too. Of course it ain't some prog-opus. This is Dirty Water. This is Muck and the Mires. It's doin' the monkey at the trash ball. Better still, it's an album produced by legendary psycher, Kim Fowley.
Yup. This ain't no typical garage cut. Not only has it been produced by Fowley (a bona fide legend) but it's also got 3D artwork. 3D specs come free. Popcorn is bought by you. You'll have to chew fast too. 12 or so tracks on this cut are over in a heartbeat. They're not a group known for hangin'' round. They like to start and finish songs as quick as they can... like time is on rations.
That's not to say songwritin' is in low supply. These rockin' chimps have enough hooks to keep a Disney film in pirate limbs. In fact, 'Hypnotic' is one of the most poppy, catchy garage LPs you're likely to hear. If you want a link to someone else, then Muck and the Mires are gunning for the space left by The Remains, rather than creating a primalhowl of say, The Sonics or The Mummies. These cats definitely know what they're doin'.
Acourse, there's garagefiends who don't dig that. They want completely shambolic DIY punk... but until some record company takes a chance on some handless hillbilly with one string on a beat-up guitar recording over Milli Vanilli tapes in his shed, you're gon' have to put up with a bit of talent.
So, yeah. Should you buy this LP? Listen. I know it's my job to convince you one way or another, but you've probably made up your mind already when you looked at the sleeve or read the words 'Kim' and 'Fowley'. Hell, you're probably not even this far into the review. That said, if you want my advice, then this LP is pretty cool. It's not the greatest garage LP ever made, but it is a great little snapshot of a period in music not one of us remember first hand. It's a collection of uptempo cuts, which would sound great in the car, sound great pumpin' from a stage... it won't rival the vintage stuff in your collection, but it will slap a stupid one across your ugly face. Oh, and one track features electric sitar. That's always fun. [Mof Gimmers / Electric Roulette]
