(2022) Osees - A Foul Form  


Review:

Whatever you call John Dwyer’s California rock band — whether it’s The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, or the current moniker of Osees — it has consistently released captivating music spanning a number of genres. The band’s prolific output of 26 albums in 19 years, including four since the pandemic, has incorporated elements of punk, garage rock, alternative, bizarre folk, and experimental progressive rock. On A Foul Form, Osees leans into the punk influences and delivers one of its most aggressive albums to date. A Foul Form is 22 minutes of unrelenting intensity that drives up your heart rate and leaves you wanting more once its brief attack abruptly ends. Recorded in Dwyer’s basement, there is a raw quality to the manic tracks. Dwyer growls and screeches while tearing through uptempo power chord riffs while propulsive rhythms are pounded out by drummer duo Dan Rincon and Paul Quattrone. “Funeral Solution” starts off the album with droning fuzz that devolves into a saturation of rumbling noise before the drums kick in. The main riff is a staccato single-chord riff that uses a two-note sequence to interrupt the main rhythm. “Be a bit rash all the time; overindulge in your prime,” Dwyer yells in a guttural voice. After two rapid-fire volleys, “Too Late for Suicide” slows things down a bit. Dwyer sneers and plays a number of noise effects over bassist Tim Hellman’s mid-tempo groove before adding a guitar riff that mirrors the bass. The reprieve is a short one, as the title track brings back the band’s high-octane assault. The song sounds like the soundtrack to a riot, with the pulse-pounding beat and Dwyer’s angry, fuzz-drenched guitar, but the cause of the riot is unclear. “Living deadly, endless hate; you left morality behind,” Dwyer shouts. “Perm Act” is a police protest anthem that shifts from mid-tempo verses to driving surf rock riffing in the choruses. At the end of each verse, the music stops and an extended drum fill serves as warning that things are about to get wild. “Fair game, a pretty fair game, as long as you subserve; lying under boot heels, laying in the dirt,” Dwyer sings. The frenetic “Social Butt” pushes and pulls in different directions and then the tightly wound aggression starts coming unraveled. The music gradually reduces tempo, with each measure getting slower and slower to a plodding finish and a trail of feedback. A similar moment occurs toward the end of “Scum Show.” The fast-paced punk rock devolves into a wall of feedback, fuzz, and reverberating noise. Beneath the noise, some drums and Dwyer’s shouting can be heard. They gradually get louder and cut through the noise as the song closes. Osees’ music is meant to be experienced live, where the band’s frenzied stage antics and propulsive music amps up the crowd into moshing, crowd surfing, and head banging. A Foul Form does a great job of capturing that fiery intensity for a brief burst of chaos.-Glide Magazine


         


Track List:
01 -Funeral Solution (Explicit)
02 -Frock Block (Explicit)
03 -Too Late for Suicide
04 -A Foul Form
05 -A Burden Snared
06 -Scum Show
07- Fucking Kill Me (Explicit)
08 -Perm Act (Explicit)
09 -Social Butt (Explicit)
10 - Sacrifice(Explicit)


Media Report:
Genre: garage, psychedelic rock
Country: Los Angeles, California, USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits


Note: If you like the music, support the artist