Ducks Battle Satan

So today I took the family to the beach. Great surf beaches are only 45 minutes away in the car, the sun was shining so off we fucking went. Now usually when we go for a bit of a road trip the music selection comes down to minimalist techno if we want to send the  kid to sleep or Kimya Dawson’s Alphabutt or some random Ramones track if he wants a bit of a sing along. Today I thought I’d try Nurse With Wound, not expecting a positive response mind, but fuck me if I didn’t have the whole family giving this the big thumbs up. Now if you have a bit of a wander about the interwebs there is a bit of nonsense about his being Nurse with Wound’s attempt at Hip Hop. Bah I say. This is simply a classic Nurse With Wound record – avant-garde as hell yet strangely accessible all at the same time. In fact the style that comes through the most in the opening couple of tracks is dub which is probably why the kid liked it so much (he loves those Congos). By the  time we reach the third track 2 Golden Microphones everything has gone a bit strange but over it’s 17 minutes it reveals itself as one of my favourite tracks. Rockabilly guitar makes fleeting appearances; electronic manipulation, featherlite drone, ghostly vocals, tribal percussion, didgeridoo and tape manipulation all weave in and out of the track. It’s a hell of a ride. That experimental streak remains through the reminder of the tracks even on the vaguely Mouse On Mars-ish R&B Through Collis Brown.

In fact there is nothing very rock’n roll about this album because much of it descends into that sublime, creepy ambience that has been a recurring theme in their records – I’ve decided to call it Dada Dub (take that Keenan). I think it is an absolute cracker and one of my favourite NWW records. For what it’s worth Beta-Lactum Ring had the  good sense to reissue this (it was first released in 1994) and the packaging is first class. These things have a tendency to go out of print quicker than you think and It would be a pity to not hear this before it disappears again. Just saying.

This entry was posted on November 14, 2009 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Music, nurse with wound with tags Music, nurse with wound. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.