Labels: Shorter Recordings
Review by: Oli Saunders
This is the first of two recent Graham records I have to review. ‘Success Racist’ is an album CD made up of seventeen songs, averaging two minutes each. And wow, what a start. ‘Octopus Bribes’ is up there as one of his best – so good that I am replaying it right now. Everything we’ve come to expect from the band are here, done to great effect. The gentle drum beat, the driving riff, the crazy feedback noise that makes you start questioning what the hell is going on. And Graham’s distinguishing vocals, sung through a garden hose. Wonderful.
The album continues in solid fashion. I chuckled at the lyric ‘And counting backwards from suicide. She keeps a trunk filled with human hides’. I’m not sure why. ‘Of Limb And Life (A Compact History)’ is a strange minute-long track with a guitar riff that sounds like someone is banging pots and pans. This is followed up by the even more bizarre offering ‘Elevator Tricks’, which has a short gentle melodic riff playing throughout and Graham playing bits of noise over the top before he starts hollering. Yep let’s put some sounds of someone having a bath in there, why not.
Overall it’s a bit up and down, with some amazing parts and some aspects that get a bit too much over half an hour. I’d probably trim some of the songs down, leaving standouts like ‘Former Certainties Ending In Doubt’, ‘Funeral Games’ and the excellent outro ‘In Waves’ to dominate the record.
13 August 2015