When you talk to people about modern garage rock,
they’ll usually be thinking of the garage rock revival of the early ‘00s. The
White Stripes, The Hives, The Strokes, and The Black Keys gave mainstream rock
fans an alternative to the post-grunge arena rock of Creed and Nickelback and
the angry white boy rock-rap of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. While I do
genuinely love those “The” garage rock bands, it’s the garage rock that began
to emerge in the mid ‘00s that I really adore. There’s something so raw and
unhinged and (for lack of a better term) American about Jay Reatard, Vivian
Girls, Ty Segall, and Oh Sees. For whatever reason, bands outside the U.S.
always sound to me like their energy and passion are artificial; their attempts
to sound lo-fi a conscious affectation rather than because of lack of access to
proper recording gear or because this music doesn’t feel right without some tape static and sludge.
Oh Sees were never a pure garage rock band, but that’s
what makes them so exciting. That’s also what sets them apart from their
contemporaries and forefathers. Look at what The Strokes have done over the
years in terms of their overall sound. It hasn’t really progressed; they
haven’t tried anything outside their comfort zone. Ty Segall, meanwhile, may
have done some weirder stuff in his career, but he isn’t releasing twenty
minute jams or playing with two drummers or recording a cover of ‘Burning
Spear’ by Sonic Youth.
All of this began with the April 8th, 2008 release of The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A
Night In. What I think of as the true Oh Sees arrived fully formed, for a
few reasons. For one, they officially changed their name to Thee Oh Sees, which
is somewhat symbolic of how the group had also evolved into a rock band for the
first time. For another thing, the arrival of new drummer Mike Shoun seems to
be the true catalyst for the beginning of Oh Sees’ rock era. As John Dwyer said
in a October 2007 interview: “…[H]e has more of a Keith Moon vibe...he
definitely brought it up to a more party thing.” (Interview can be found here: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/660)
True, a few tracks were recorded in New York with a different drummer, but
Shoun’s work slots in nicely with the new sonic direction. There’s even a
preview of the modern Oh Sees’ two drummer foundation when he’s joined on the
aptly named ‘Two Drummers Disappear’ by longtime producer/collaborator Chris
Woodhouse.
I have to admit right now that, with one caveat, Master’s Bedroom is a perfect start to
the garage rock phase. The overall sound and production is beautiful lo-fi
goodness, finishing Dwyer’s journey into electric guitar underground badass.
Indeed, one of the first things that drew me to this band was that I simply
thought they sounded cool as hell. I’m a sucker for noisy/distorted guitars and
reverb/echo/delay effects; the opening noise delay loop of ‘Block Of Ice’
always gets me pumped. Some of the hallmarks of Dwyer’s vocal yelps, yells, and
other tics (like leaving in him counting 1, 2, 3, 4 to start songs and other
studio chatter) start here, too. Sludgier tracks like ‘Grease’ and ‘Maria
Stacks’ keep the blood flowing but also allow you to catch your breath.
So, about that caveat that I mentioned? I’ve always
thought Master’s Bedroom is a few
songs too long. At 46 minutes, it isn’t any longer than most of their other
albums, sure, but it feels long. I
think the album is well paced and none of the songs are bad or should have been
shuffled around, so what is it? I used to think I felt this way because ‘You
Will See This Dog Before You Die’ seemed the logical conclusion of the record,
and the minute or so of silence at the end of it felt weird and off-putting,
especially when ‘Quadrospazzed’ starts out of nowhere, seemingly mid-song.
Meanwhile, album ending song ‘Koka Kola Jingle’ is a strange throwback to the
freak folk style of previous albums. Doing research for this retrospective, as
it turns out, would not only vindicate my opinion but make it somewhat
objectively true. This is because most versions of Master’s Bedroom actually are
too long. ‘Quadrospazzed’ and ‘Koka Kola Jingle’ were bonus tracks tacked onto
the album’s non-vinyl releases. I do think their inclusion weakens the album
though your mileage may vary. On a side note, I far prefer the 45 RPM single
version of ‘Quadrospazzed.’ Dubbed ‘Quadrospazzed ‘09’, it’s the first long
song in Oh Sees history. Clocking in at just over ten minutes long, it’s almost
like a proto-‘Warm Slime’, and it really needs to be re-released on a
compilation along with other rare Oh Sees tracks not on the singles
collections.
Master’s
Bedroom began a streak of yearly albums and other releases
that continues, unabated, to the present day. Oh Sees may not always have
released masterpieces each year, but they’re all at the very least solid and
interesting. Those newer fans wishing to sample the garage rock era would do
well to start here, since it’ll establish what this era was all about before
you move on to the albums that refined and experimented with this sound. I
should note that, because I’m doing these retrospectives by chronological
release order, we will be making a brief detour with the live freak folk album Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion (recorded in
2007 but released after Master’s Bedroom in
2008) before we continue on the garage rock trail.
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