Man... or Astro-Man?
Experiment Zero
[Touch and Go]
Rating: 8.4
Since their first release on Estrus Records a
couple years back, this band has put out 22 singles, six full-length albums, and
a lot of hardcore, asskicking surf rock. Their new record, Experiment
Zero, only further proves that they're the band of the future.
These 14 new songs hang ten, solar star-power style. For the entire duration
of the album, I was continually hypnotized by the delicious, low-fidelity UFO
noises and blaring, warbling guitars. The opening kicker, "Television Fission,"
stereo- spreads its way into your sub-conscious and you've had it; you're hooked
until the whammybar action of the final
track, "Principals Unknown," finally snaps you out of it.
A cover of the Talking Heads' tune "Television Man" is included, as are several
sci-fi movie sound bytes which only add to the album's charm. It's a record you
simply can't go wrong with. Long live the Moog- enhanced surf-rock of Man... or
Astro-Man.
-Ryan Schreiber