ep // Widowermaker EP
It's difficult at times not to feel like your committing
some sort of heinous crime against taste and decency if you listen
to the Butthole Surfers brand of psychedelic goofiness; you
get this nagging sensation that you'd get arrested for possessing
copies of their CDs, and the four-track Widowermaker EP is
no exception. Its 3D-generated sleeve image recalls the late 80's
penchant for futuristic (and now remarkably twee) designs, particularly
on low-budget dance singles. The sleeve is totally at odds with
the weird rock sounds on this EP, so someone probably spent an unhealthy
five minutes chuckling away to themselves.
Perhaps it was the recipient of the heavy bong hit
of the opener, 'Bongsong', wherein do you not only hear the groggy
utterances of a clearly stoned Gibby Haynes, but also the
frantic bubbling of the bong immediately before it. Now normally
you would consider that to be a cheap, crude piss-take; only this
is Butthole Surfers, and you can only assume it was the real thing,
with no artificial colourings, sweetners or preservatives. Elsewhere,
the track is a downbeat, maudlin tune with a ranted, megaphone vocal
and very Sonic Youth guitar work - alternating between soft
noodling and raging buzzwork - and occasional organ solos. It's
intense and heavy, unlike the melancholy Pixies grunge pop of '1401',
which has a sixties West Coast vibe and a brilliant, largely comprehensible,
vocal from Haynes.
'Booze Tobacco' is a high-speed punk number, which
basically runs like a picket-line protest : 'What do we want?
Booze! When do we want it? Now!' probably aren't the lyrics.
Lots of whooping and dog simulations, along with a funky bassline
remind me of an early Chili's out-take, while the crazy drum machine
fills and fried axe-wielding ensure this sounds like nothing on
earth. The six minute, shambolic 'Helicopter' is clearly a seventies
Glam-Metal pastiche with its thundering drums and freaky vocal phrasing,
which occasionally touches on early Nick Cave.
So it's a little off-kilter - what of it? It's also
a tidy, short nugget detailing what made this band so essential,
serving both as an excellent introduction to their work and a wired
companion to their albums.
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