Starving Weirdos

This is the soundtrack of your favourite nightmare. The aural cinema delivered by the Starving Weirdos is best experienced with one’s eyes closed. A dark psychedelic joyride on the inside of one’s eyelids. Instead of the obvious, hypnotically safe vision or bouncing orangey sunspots, entire films are projected onto the eyeball. Think desolate valleys, sweaty engine rooms and dark alleyways. The four trips committed to record by this Californian band taunt every accepted boundary. The black magic summoned by the Weirdos’ guitars, saxophones, electronics and smothered voices culminate in a Lynchian cinematic exorcism in four parts. Listening to the ominous opening piece Summon one finds oneself lost in a sudden sandstorm. Enveloped by whirling sand and surrounded by howling coyotes, the only escape is a dilapidated ghost town. With its wailing guitars and scraping percussion this music is best described as desert folk. Listen to In Transit which sounds like the unnerving siren song of the grimy urban jungle. The listener becomes inescapably entangled in the low mist of ghostly phantom guitars and vocal reverb. The core of this collective consists of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay from Humboldt County, CA. Having produced a large number of limited CD-r releases since 1998, Summon With Electronic Sorcery neatly manages to summarise their work to date. This album has grown into a powerful statement. The menacing and angst-ridden industrial undercurrent permeates the Weirdos’ hardcore improvisations, while excursions into free folk humanise and cushion their impact. Put on your head phones and hold on tight to your chair. This album marks the sonic raid of plunder by this hungry pack of mad wolves.