If The Stooges proved nothing else during their all-too-brief first run (before Iggy changed his surname to “Pop” and James Williamson joined in on guitar), they proved that “rock n' roll” was not synonymous with “rocket science.” In the multitude of explanations Iggy has made in the decades since then, he has been pretty forthright on the matter, actually; the general idea which drove The Stooges was to mimic a sound which was monolithic, simple and metallic – like a big machine. He has further contended that the reason his band was inspired by such sounds was because they saw possibilities in them; they were epic sounds that they felt like they could master themselves. The band ended up inspiring an entire generation f guitarists with this kind of primal simplicity.
That The Stooges' only goal while they were writing songs which would ultimately help to shape a tremendous amount of the rock music landscape thereafter is remarkable, but even more incredible is the fact that no band has been able to do anything similar which has yielded so much inspiration since. No band has been able to re-imagine the building blocks of rock from the ground level like The Stooges did since; everyone has used at least a couple of square feet of the foundation that The Stooges laid instead of getting right down in the dirt.
Well, maybe not until now.
On their Sub Pop debut, Ruthless Sperm, Italian imports His Electro Blue Voice don't make anything so trite as rock which could be called “feral” – no, the only word which suits is “primitive.”
From the moment “Death Climb” screams to life to open Ruthless Sperm, listeners will have their eardrums assaulted by a wall of guitars, bass and drums which don't sway back and forth haphazardly so much as veer back and forth oevr the brink of complete meltdown. The cacophony the band creates is shocking, but as soon as listeners get acclimated to it is when singer/guitarist Francesco Mariani blunders in on the mic, frothing at the mouth and babbling about some kind of interpersonal relationship (“I see by your flowers, I see by the light/ That death and my freedom are ready to meet”).
That first introduction is ugly and off-putting and basically guarantees that some listeners will be totally put off of the idea of continuing any further into Ruthless Sperm beyond “Death Climb,” but those who do find some patience will be handsomely rewarded.
After the shock of “Death Climb” subsides a bit, listeners' heads may still be reeling but they'll find their feet moving too as songs like “Spit Dirt,” “Sea Bug” and “Tumor” mix together some really fat and danceable beats and bass with scorching guitars and find a rhythm in the combination which, while incredibly caustic (Mariani's voice feels it too – it never lightens up from the shredded larynx tone of “Death Climb”), also proves to be really, really engaging. That rhythm will get listeners to come along for this ride (even if they're really not sure how or why) and, as it goes, listeners will find that the music gets progressively less caustic and hard on the ear. That isn't to say the music is actually softening, just that, after repeated assaults, listeners may end up submitting to His Electro Blue Voice's willful perversion of their minds and, by the time “The Path” and “Born/Tired” roll around, those who have stayed with the record will be eating up what the band is putting down, and even find they could make comparisons between the late-playing songs here and both The Stooges and The Pixies.
After they've made their way through Ruthless Sperm the first time, listeners won't know what to think about His Electro Blue Voice. Some will be ready to destroy the music – break the record, shatter the CD or delete the mp3s, depending on the format they bought – and call it garbage, but a few will listen again. Those few will be hooked; and those few will hand the music to friends who will quietly appreciate it and they will do the same in turn and, eventually, that group of fans may be legion. That might happen or it might not, but it's cool to think like that as one listens to Ruthless Sperm. This record feels like it might just be powerful enough to cause history to repeat, finally.
Artist:
www.hiselectrobluevoice.bandcamp.com/
www.myspace.com/hiselectrobluevoice
www.facebook.com/pages/HIS-ELECTRO-BLUE-VOICE/
Download:
His Electro Blue Voice – Ruthless Sperm – “Sea Bug” – [mp3]
His Electro Blue Voice – Ruthless Sperm – “Born/Tired” – [mp3]
Album:
Ruthless Sperm will be released on August 20, 2013 via Sub Pop Records. Pre-order it here on Amazon.
