Okay, before we get on with listening to this album, let’s do a pre-boarding check: Do you like glammy garage rock? Good, good. Do you have your bong? Essential. Absolutely essential. The album’s called Rise of the Green Gorilla, for funk’s sake. Timmy’s Organism is Timmy Vulgar (I’m not sure that’s his real name), former frontman for some other bands you probably haven’t heard of (Human Eye, Clone Defects), and I certainly hadn’t heard of. However, after taking in Timmy’s Organism and witnessing (WITH MY EARS) the Rise of the Green Gorilla, I sure as shut am going to. This album is epic. It’s loud, scuzzy, noisy, lo-fi, overblown, and otherwise plain old shitty sounding, which makes it all the more impressive that I want to listen to it over and over. It really stands as a testament to an album when they do all they can to make the sound ugly and unpalatable and you’re still croaking and wailing along to the songs and generally causing everyone around you incredible distress. Stylistically, it’s like a magical collaboration that I wish had actually happened – if Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band had been sneakily replaced with T. Rex’s band and they recorded all their demos on a shitty 4-track in someone’s basement. Excellent glam stomp filtered though Beefheart’s raspy, acid-stained psychedelia, while aurally bringing to mind the resin-stained tape recordings of lo-fi paterfamiliases Sebadoh. Timmy takes elements that in the hands of a lesser artist would make this album completely unlistenable, such as ridiculous vocal effects (most tracks, most notably “Give It To Me Babe”) or just plain raunchy guitar noise (every track, but notably “Oafeus Clods”), and even downkey instrumental synth jams (“Building the Friend-Ship”), but makes it work. The music is so trashy-sounding you almost feel wrong enjoying it so much – like getting hot ’n’ bothered staring at an Aphrodite made of garbage. But damn, it’s so right. (Sacred Bones Records, http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/) David Nowacki
Winnipeg music & culture since 1989