Labels: Black Gladiator – Slovenly
Review by: Alex Deller
Listened to this album a whole lot but still at something of a loss as to where I should begin. The first track’s as good a place as any, I suppose, and it’s probably the album’s strongest point: a blitzed-out mix of blank-eyed motoric rhythm, frazzled psych interjections and glassy female vocals that chink through the fug in a manner that’s coolly impersonal. Combinations of these three factors are deployed from then on, sometimes in frantic manner (such as the typically jittery ‘Too Much Cocaine’, which also brings in some stuttery male vox) and sometimes in wound-down, morning-after-the-night-before fashion that are no less hypnotic. It’s a fun record, but there’s something “” maybe the overall aloofness or maybe the fact that things never boil over into out-and-out mania “” that prevents ‘Pagan Day’ from being a truly great one. I want this shit to explode my skull, melt my eyes and leave me a slackjawed, dribbling mess. That doesn’t quite happen this time around, but I sure hope PYPY (or ð ð, whichever you prefer) manage it when next they return.