Labels: Spirit of Orr
Review by: Chris Bress
Sunburned Hand of the Man are a massive swirling wall of funk. Snatching the music from the students and dragging it back to their brutal lair of death and noise where you don’t need to give a fuck about what other people think. The sweltering heat of certain parts of the Americas has certainly had an affect on their music, in fact during “glass boot” I’m transported straight into a scene from “I walked with a zombie”. Sunburned definitely seem to play the same kind of shit as No Neck Blues Band, Pelt and perhaps Sun City Girls although on this record at least they let loose some swamp boogie and funk elements which really do help the listener take leave of their senses and get taken to some dirgy Memphis late night bar. I can hear parts that remind me of mainstream hard hitters such as Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and almost Tom Waits too which help the pieces from being too abstract and letting them actually Rock!
So far the best recording by this collective that I’ve got to hear (they have lots of records out there!), and the closest to their insane live performances.
This should be available from most good record shops, but if you have no luck try the amazing www.normansrecords.com.