Ducks Battle Satan

I love Sightings probably to the point of obsession. You see Sightings sounds to me like the perfect deconstruction of rock music into its essence. It’s difficult and loud and messy.

2010 saw the release of their last record, City of Straw. Compared with their previous record Through the Panama it just seemed to sneak out without much fanfare. I think it is a shame because it is on the finest things they have done and one of the best records of last year. If I go back and listen to their early works like their self titled debut or Michigan Haters, they sounded like a cross between Pussy Galore, Jesus Lizard and Wolf Eyes. After each album their sound has grown to the point where (I think in part to their producer Andrew W.k.) they have become a much more sophisticated group with influences ranging from No Wave, DNA  and the Swans. The chaos is still there but in a lurching kind of way. Instead of staying sonically messy like their earlier records their sound became focused and probably a bit harder. In fact I’d go a step further and say that there is a sonic coldness to their recent output especially when the zombie dead pan vocals kick in. For a three piece from Brooklyn they make a great racket and are one of the few noise rock bands that have not compromised on their vision or sound.

This entry was posted on November 16, 2011 at 7:20 am and is filed under Music, noise, Sightings with tags Music, noise, Sightings. 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.