Review by: Alex Hannan
Thee Ludds bring us two stripped down garage punk numbers in the shape of the “Crumhorn / Skeleton Rider” 7″. There’s plenty of fuzz and distortion coating their sound – the bass in particular has a satisfying grinding thump and the mush-mouthed vocals keep the needle pushing the red. The songs are based on simple, nagging melodies and avoid conspicuous retro-blues-garage stylings in favour of a more obnoxious primitive hammering which reminds me of a kind of Cramps / the Fall circa Witch Trials hybrid stuffed into econo-size songs. It’s a satisfying sound which I’m sure comes across well live.
Something about the way these tunes were put together was bothering me, so I made a few notes and it turns out that give or take an outro these two numbers follow essentially the same structure*. Despite this they pull off slightly different moods, the bone shaking mashup of “Crumhorn” contrasting with the more streamlined white-line-fever of “Skeleton rider”. Or are those comparisons just popping into my head because of the meat-processing / skateboarding themes of the videos on Youtube? Either way, I’m into it.
*Congratulations! You are the 1,000,000th visitor! You win a recipe for a Thee Ludds song. Make up your own!
[intro]
[verse (- organ)/ chorus (+ organ)] x 3
[instrumental break]
[chorus]
[verse]
[chorus] x 2
[outro] (optional)