INDEPENDENT
THOUGHT:
"Wrapped in another
vibrantly printed photo-collage booklet (a Dual Plover trademark perhaps?)
is this short and fragmented set of collaged pop songs. Over a base
of looped percussion this appropriately named Sydney-based duo add real,
sampled and digital sounds, often shifting from lo-fi to hi- fi (and
back again) in mid-song. Audio bits fly in and out almost at random,
and tracks shift gear as soon as a groove is introduced or spoken word
sample deployed. Over the first half of the disc the cumulative effect
is deranged and hallucinatory- more along the lines of what a glitchy
Boredoms might do than any mash-up styled deconstruction of pop tunes.
Midway through the disc the tunes begin to display a quieter gentler
side to the Spazzmodics, interspersing welcome snippets of silence around
the sonic bits- which are in this instance melodic and almost pretty.
A twisted sense of humor is displayed throughout- though they never
get too wacky for their own good. There is a great photo of the duo
(on the Dual Plover site) performing live-, which makes me wonder what
sort of show these two put on."
angebase
"This is a
case of judging a book by its cover and actually getting to be right.
So up yours mum. With a cheap demented digitally manipulated cut up
of a cover youŐd probably expect a cheap demented digitally manipulated
cut up of sounds. And if you buy this album by the very classily named
Spazzmodics then thatŐs exactly what youŐll get. A two-piece operating
out of Sydney, Vermin Perm is their debut album where they torment and
distort, strange burst of lofi shards of sound, off kilter drum machines
and weird samples. Much of it doesnŐt makes sense, much of it is uncomfortable
and wrong, much of it is gruelling and makes you want to wash afterwards.
But then again they are operating with such humour and wrongness that
you kindŐve want to give them a go. There are actually song structures
here mashed together in frantic diseased attention span, ADD infused
flurries of activity. ItŐs all proudly lofi, a crazed broken carnival
ride melding Venetian Snares with Faxed Head, then giggling hysterically
at the confused torment it dishes out. It hurts you but you love it
but it hurts you but you love it but it hurts you."
-Bob
Baker Fish (inpress magazine)
"Insane
Sydney twosome the Spazzmodics release their debut album Vermin Perm
on twisted local label Dual Plover. Constructing quirky sound pieces,
some of which could even loosely fit the description of songs, they
spread thorny sound bytes and highly irregular drum machine samples
together to come up with one of the strangest musical sandwiches ever
likely to get stuck in your windpipe. Despite the mysterious way the
Spazzmodics go about making music, there is not much point seaching
for meaning here. You gotta be taking some mighty fine drugs to find
any among all that ambiguity"
BLUNT MAGAZINE.
"It toook me about
two weeks of listening to be able to imagine what i was going to write
about this album, i was thinking i could say it sounded sampled but
its more then that or i cold say it is experimental but its more then
that, after seeing the guys do there thing live i have come to the conclusion
that this album is fun. The album starts off with some old crooner singing
"chicks, kicks, cats, cool, i love..." and then repeated, this line
has been going around in my head and the head of my girlfriend ever
since i first listened. I recognise samples all through this and i like
to try and work out where the samples came from, call it a hobby, the
only sample i could pick was in track number 3 i think i recognise a
snare drum from Tone Loc's wild thing. Track 3 titled 'Mind On The Turtle"
is a very nice and cruisy track, laid back in fact i like the drums
a lot. "Giant Crow Man With Perm" number 6 is an interesting tale of
something, i havent picked it up yet but the voice used and the insect
like samples make it all sound very scientific. Number 8 titled "Whimsical
Man Boobs" sounds to me like the backing track to a Bugs Bunny cartoon
i would love to see it used to that effect, it could be the next big
thing like the one with elmer fudd in the barbers chair while bugs does
the shaving accompanied by an orchestra. Track 15 isnt credited and
sounds like Bill Cosby having a bit of a bitch. Another great Dual Plover
album that defies categorising. The is also an interestingly distorted
picture on the back of the album of two wrestlers."
.australianmusic
"Already the CD's
design is quite something: paper case with velcro, felt cover underneath
the disc and a lot of idiotic pictures. Santa Claus with amps in the
background, human brain cross section, dead child, female diver, dog,
cat, grappling moustached men, oh and a picture each of both half-insane
perpetrators (they are Australians by the way). What we hear is the
same in music. Avantgarde soundcollage? Experimental electronics? Cut-up?
Fuck knows, at times it's like a scratch record, or something by Mike
Patton, Melt Banana or Boredoms. But there's an American bloke who produces
surprisingly similar things under the name of Tripod Sardine. Who knows
the above mentioned knows what to expect and also what not: easy entertainment.
For most people this is too little, for others it's
too much, in any case fortune favours the brave!"
translated
from hungarian
by adam csenger
.