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HUMAN HOST   Exploding Demon   CD   (MT6)    8.98



Baltimore's total-damage theatrical casio punk collective Human Host follow up 2004's Invisible Arteries with this new full length of mutant psych-punk and cosmic casio jams lit up with blasted drone improv. Originally formed from the ashes of popular basement punx Charm City Suicides, the Human Host's now sheer numbers (the Host lists no less than twelve people in their lineup!) allows for an eclectic quest through loose but strangely (and I mean strangely) catchy tunes with lyrics that seem lifted from some obscure 70's prog gatefold sleeve shot through with their peculiar spritiual inflection. Human Host's lysergic avant pop muck busts noisy casio chaos and tweaked keyboard lines with primitive beats,spacey electronics, a "testifying" vocalist, chewy heavy lo-fi acid dirges, even a quick fragment of blastbeat-overload grindcore....the really abstract sounds get into full on freeform drone territory, pretty pastoral drift strewn with chimes and minimal percussion and gauzy,floating keys. It's sort of a psychic amalgam of No Neck Blues Band, a thoroughly avant-garde Ween, quick blips of brutal power violence, art-damaged DIY hardcore aesthetics, Animal Collective...or a punk rock re-imagining of Amon Duul infected with the Load Records brand of dayglo brain damage, with weird production techniques. Either way you slice it, it's pretty rad. Jewel case packaging with stoned space invaders artwork.