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San Francisco-based Oxbow, fronted by nightmarish wailing ocalist Eugene
Robinson (reminiscent of David Yow in Scratch Acid),
concocted an insane free-form collage of atonal instruments (notably Niko Wenner's guitar), vocal rants, noise, punk energy, heavy-metal loudness, truculent
stories and sheer nonsense on
Fuckfest (Pathological, 1991 - Hydra Head, 2009),
a short collection of six songs
(Curse, 30 Miles, The Valley, Bull's Eye, Yoke, Hunger) and especially
King of the Jews (CFY, 1992), with the lengthy Woe and
The Balls In The Great Meat Grinder Collection, a glorious duet with
Lydia Lunch.
The first two LPs were combined on The Balls In The Great Meat Grinder Collection (Pathological, 1992).
Tracks:
King Of The Jews
1 Daughter 4:52
2 Bomb 7:43
3 Angel 8:38
4 Cat And Mouse 6:13
5 Burn 6:09
6 Woe 5:54
Fuckfest
7 Curse 5:50
8 30 Miles 5:47
9 The Valley 5:50
10 Bulls Eye 4:03
11 Yoke 6:12
12 Hunger 6:44
This heavy blend of early Birthday Party and
Lubricated Goat and
Captain Beefheart led to the demented
hyper-acid punk-rock of
Let Me Be a Woman (Brinkman, 1994), featuring
ROVA Saxophone Quartet's saxophonist Jon Raskin
(Sunday,
Gal,
The Virgin Bride,
1000,
Me and The Moon,
The Stabbing Hand),
and especially
Serenade in Red (SST, 1996), with the eleven-minute
3 O'Clock and several cases of psycho-blues
(Over , Lucky , The Last Good Time , Babydoll).
After a long hiatus, the band returned with the sub-bluesy
An Evil Heat (Neurot, 2002),
including a 32-minute coda Glimmer Shine that is quintessential musique concrete for distorted guitar and moribund groove, and a handful of harrowing
psychic cataclysms
(The Snake and the Stick,
Stallkicker,
S Bar X, with Jarboe).
Love That's Last (Hydra Head, 2006) collected unreleased tracks and
preceded the band's return with The Narcotic Story (Hydra Head, 2007),
another hellish excursion into a wildly deteriorated form of blues music
and into Eugene Robinson's harrowing stream of consciousness, with
post-rock dynamics, strings, piano.
Oxbow's vocalist Eugene Robinson released the spoken-word
double-disc Fight (Hydra Head, 2008).
Songs For The French (Hydra Head, 2009)
contains an improvised collaboration with French composer Philippe Thiphaine
and a live recording.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da
Tobia D’Onofrio)
Gli Oxbow di San
Francisco, guidati dagli spaventosi gemiti del cantante Eugene Robinson (che
ricorda David Yow negli Scratch Acid), hanno architettato un folle collage free-form
di strumenti atonali (in particolare la chitarra di Niko Wenner), voci
farneticanti, rumore, energia punk, vistosità heavy-metal, storie truculente e
stupidaggini belle e buone, come è possibile ascoltare su Fuckfest
(Pathological, 1991), una breve raccolta di sei brani (Curse, 30
Miles, The Valley, Bull's Eye, Yoke, Hunger) e
soprattutto su King of the Jews (CFY, 1992), con le lunghe tracce Woe
e The Balls In The Great Meat Grinder Collection, un glorioso duetto con
Lydia Lunch.
I primi due LP sono
raccolti su The Balls In The Great Meat Grinder Collection
(Pathological, 1992).
Questo pesante
miscuglio tra i primi Birthday Party e Lubricated Goat e Captain Beefheart ha portato al demenziale punk-rock iper-acido di Let
Me Be a Woman (Brinkman, 1994), in cui figura il sassofonista del ROVA
Saxophone Quartet, Jon Raskin (Sunday, Gal, The Virgin Bride,
1000, Me and The Moon, The Stabbing Hand), e soprattutto
di Serenade in Red (SST, 1996), con gli undici minuti di 3 O'Clock
e diversi episodi di psycho-blues (Over , Lucky , The Last
Good Time , Babydoll).
Dopo una lunga
pausa, la band ritorna con il sub-blues di An Evil Heat (Neurot, 2002),
che include la coda di 32 minuti Glimmer Shine, un concentrato di musica
concreta per chitarra distorta e groove moribondo, oltre a una manciata di strazianti
cataclismi psichici (The Snake and the Stick, Stallkicker, S
Bar X, con Jarboe).
Love That's Last (Hydra Head,
2006) raccoglie pezzi inediti e precede il ritorno della band The Narcotic
Story (Hydra Head, 2007), un’altra escursione infernale attraverso una
forma di blues selvaggiamente deteriorato e lungo lo straziante flusso di
coscienza di Eugene Robinson, con dinamiche post-rock, archi e pianoforte.
Il cantante degli Oxbow, Eugene Robinson, pubblica un doppio
album, lo spoken-word Fight (Hydra Head, 2008).
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