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| Photo by Gabe Wheeler. |
Well, it seems like the best answer to the question is California's Prizehog. The trio of Rion, Zakk, and Veronica collage together some seriously heavy, skull crushing, psych-doom-space sludge from an admixture of shuddering drums, down-tuned guitar, effect drenched vocals, and Rothko-textured synth.
It's a thick mess of sounds that lingers in the space between manic and groove, stretching every note beyond its capacity, milking the sound of all its essence and letting it slowly decay. Their songs effortlessly churn through bombastic thunder, spacey (sometimes poppy) drones and amazingly catchy hooks. One solid epic after another. Hypnotizing and chugging, tangled and dark, Prizehog offers some killer, weirded out dirge that rumbles as much as it glides through an ever sprawling landscape.
Caught you yet?
If you need more adjective laden peaks to climb, just follow the "Goods" link on their website. I hate making comparisons, but when you have mentions of Harvey Milk, Melvins, Butthole Surfers, the Fucking Champs, Wildildlife, True Widow, and Codeine, you're doing something better than "right." You're doing something gorgeously sublime.
I dig abstract and experimental, and dig it even more when it pushes up against expectations. Too often, abstract forgets what it's doing and devolves into self-masturbatory clutter. Not here. Prizehog pairs their non-conventional song-writing with some awesomely dark and moody melodies. They're a hardworking trio who have been crushing California's Bay Area (and elsewhere) for close to seven years. Their self-released EP "Alive and Well" (2008) is out of print, but your internet prowess should serve you well. Check out their first full length, "Thought Nest" (2011 Saint Rose Records), here and their most recent EP, "A Talking To" (2012 Gravity Records, here. Like they say, "We play lots. We have for years now." It's about damn time we invited them to play Total Fest.
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