Oh Sees Retrospective #14: Carrion Crawler/The Dream

I've never been a Christmas kind of person. It's been my least favorite holiday for a long time, and it seems to always be a melancholy time of year. 2019's holiday season has so far been especially difficult because I'm on my own, living at a friend's place in Columbus. He's vacationing abroad with his girlfriend until after the new year, and my wife and I are in the middle of one of those awkward “we're not speaking” kind of arguments. This is all the cherry on top to what will go down as, no hyperbole, one of the worst years I've ever had. So while a lot of people seem to love the end-of-year seasonal traditions, like looking back on the past year by ranking movies and music in top ten lists, I just want this fucking year to be over. Given all of this, my preferred form of looking back is to revisit some of my all time favorite things and to not think about anything that happened in 2019. Sure, I just saw Knives Out in the theater (a fantastic film, by the way) but I've also been rewatching, say, Pulp Fiction and the best episodes of Trailer Park Boys.


As for music, you ask? Well, aside from mainlining Microcastle by Deerhunter and First Come, First Served by Dr. Doooom aka Kool Keith, I also can't stop listening to Carrion Crawler/The Dream. And no, it's not just because I'm writing this retrospective. Much as it may be a foregone conclusion that I love this album, we'll at least try to see if anything bahs my humbugs when I once again put down my fandom banner and put on my critical lenses.


Let's ignore the fact that the back of the record sleeve says this is an EP: Carrion Crawler/The Dream is the third and final full length release from Oh Sees in 2011, arriving on November 8^th. If anyone has a concrete answer as to why the back sleeve says EP, I'd love to know. I would speculate, based on interviews and comments from the band, it was because originally this was going to be an EP based around 'The Dream.' When they wrote 'Carrion Crawler' (and perhaps one or two more tracks) they decided to put it all out together. Recorded and mixed by stalwart Oh Sees collaborator Chris Woodhouse, the album was finished in only five days and done entirely live as a full band in the studio. This approach paid off like a hacked slot machine for Frog Eyes on the similarly bombastic and long-song-heavy Paul's Tomb (A Triumph). Whereas the key to that album was adding a second guitarist, Carrion Crawler/The Dream takes full flight by adding Lars Finberg as the second drummer. It doesn't hurt that Oh Sees also delivered one of their most cohesive batch of songs yet, with a special emphasis on krautrock rhythms and song structures.


Look, we all know that this record is a classic in the Oh Sees canon. Most fans I've encountered seem to adore it and keep it permanently in their top five. We also all know that 'The Dream' is one of their towering achievements; it's been a fixture in live shows for years now and it's still their most popular song on Spotify. What we all might not know, or perhaps remember, is how many other fantastic songs come alongside 'The Dream.' Nobody ever seems to talk about 'Robber Barons', with its patient pace and wall of sound guitars. Also undeservedly forgotten, 'Chem-Farmer' has an absolute unit of a bassline that will rattle your skull if you crank it on a good set of speakers or headphones. Speaking of skulls, I would totally buy this record just for the cover art alone. I mean, wouldn't you? Yeah you would; I knew I liked you.


Special commendation must be given to 'Carrion Crawler' as one of the most perfect album openers in the history of Oh Sees album openers. It careens down the road with an addictive descending guitar riff that nods so heavily toward Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive' it risks headbutting the piper at the gates of dawn, if you catch my drift. It makes me embarrassed because I didn't make the connection until they started using part of 'Interstellar' as a soundcheck/introduction to some live shows in the last year or two. Now, if I did have any nitpick with Carrion Crawler/The Dream, it's that 'Opposition' (or 'Opposition (With Maracas)', if you have the vinyl record) and 'Wrong Idea' are slight little trifles that seem underwritten by comparison to the rest of the songs...although...


...Although I do think they're purposefully positioned to mitigate the time and reality warping effects of 'The Dream.' I suppose this means I have to unpick that nit, then.


So, there you have it. A foregone conclusion about how great this album is...um, well foregone. No surprises, eh? Well, you know something? The holidays aren't always about surprises, wrapped gifts that tantalize with their mystery contents. Just as people still watch the marathon of A Christmas Story year after year, sometimes you want something familiar—indeed, something that familiarity has worn away the flaws of. You may not think this is a perfect record though I'd be willing to bet all the reindeer in Norway that you'd be hard pressed to name another Oh Sees album that is both a great entry point for newcomers and a hardcore fan favorite. But I digress. Happy holidays, and always remember: the dream, it seems, is peeking into real life.


[Unimportant footnote: I'm still not sure what part of Can's 'Soul Desert' is contained in 'Contraption/Soul Desert', even after listening to the original song and also the demo of 'Contraption' on Singles Collection Vol. 1 & 2. I think maybe it's just some lyrics or a riff or chord....?]

Oh Sees Retrospective #13: Castlemania

Now that we're deep into the discography of Oh Sees, it's got me thinking about what it is about certain bands that inspires such loyalty from fans. To put it another way, do people keep following Oh Sees and exploring their earlier releases because of a consistent quality? Is it because they continue to surprise us by trying new things, adding new members, changing their name, and/or taking stylistic left turns seemingly on a whim? Is it because John Dwyer is such a good looking fellow? I suspect the reason (or reasons) differs for every fan. When it comes to Castlemania, though, I've noticed that lovers and haters alike have the same reasoning for their feelings toward it: it's different.


Following up the release of Singles Collection Vol. 1 & 2 by only a couple months, Castlemania arrived in this world on May 10, 2011. Like Dog Poison, it was mostly recorded by Dwyer at home, with significant contributions from usual collaborator Brigid Dawson as well as then-fresh faced new boy Ty Segall. Unlike Dog Poison, Castlemania feels like a fully realized, finished project. You get the sense that he had these songs and ideas sitting around, and they wouldn't work with a full psych/garage rock arrangement, so he took another crack at doing them like he would have in the early days. This means more acoustic guitars, sure, but it also means a more expansive palette of sounds and instruments than on the OCS records. Moreover, when the album does rock, on 'Corrupted Coffin' and 'A Wall, A Century 2', it's hardly Help leftovers; rather, it's a skronky noise fest and a menacing, suffocating stomper, respectively.


While it doesn't sound so different from other Oh Sees projects that you'll be reaching for the sleeve to confirm the artist name, it can be said that Castlemania largely exists in its own sound world. Few Oh Sees albums are better served by a listen on headphones. In fact, between its grim lyrical content and insular atmosphere, I recommend enjoying it on headphones at 1 in the morning after everyone else has gone to bed while you're still awake taking bong hits and beer sips and thinking about life and death. In terms of the mix of poppy songwriting and the eerie/dark 60s psychedelia permeating out of the grooves, Castlemania brings to mind Olivia Tremor Control and their affiliates in the Elephant 6 collective. I mean, couldn't you see it showing up on shelves in 1999 next to Her Wallpaper Reverie and Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume 1?


What strikes me the most about this album is how long it took me to appreciate it. Back in 2011 when I discovered Oh Sees, I wrote a short, dismissive review of Castlemania, which is so poorly done I won't bother linking or quoting it. When I think back to my views at the time, and my taste in music, a better way to explain my initial negative opinion is that I was more inclined to expect things from records instead of letting them tell me their tale. I was such a huge instant fan of Help and Carrion Crawler/The Dream that it's all I expected or wanted from Oh Sees. When Castlemania turned out to be more like Olivia Tremor Control and less like Ty Segall, I couldn't even begin to hear it for what it was.


It's only with the last eight years of growth, further musical experiences, and especially doing this retrospective that I've come around to Castlemania. I defy anyone to not want to sing along to 'I Need Seed.' It's infectious and fun, contrasting with the chaotic intensity and clangor of the title track. I love the structure of this record, the way it balances its variety of tones and styles while still making for a coherent journey. In particular I love how 'The Horse Was Lost' seemingly closes out the album, with its distant saxophone moans and flute-like organ, before a minute of silence leads into the three covers that actually close the album. It's as if you just watched an intimate performance in someone's living room and now they're doing a few covers as an encore, with two of them sung by guests/friends. Sure, the very last song on Castlemania is a weirdly dour affair that sounds like Nico's The Marble Index, but I'm going to let that nitpick slide because I happen to love that album and being different is part of what makes Castlemania great. One criticism that does still hold for this record it's that you really have to be OK with Dwyer's affected vocals from this era. He purposefully sounds more bratty, nasally, and croaky than his natural voice, and if you find that kind of thing hard to overlook, this won't be a tolerable listen for long.


Since it's sandwiched in the 2011 releases between a sexy double album compilation and an adored fan favorite, and also since it's so different from their other records, Castlemania is easy to overlook and to skip over. I know many fans are eager to get to Carrion Crawler/The Dream. Sure, it's an almost universally beloved album; it's high on the list of recommendations for new fans and often makes top five placings in rankings of personal favorites of the devoted. Of course I'm excited to get to it. But give Castlemania its due first. Absolutely give this one another chance if it hasn't clicked with you before. It eventually did for me, and while it's never going to be one of my favorites, at least now I'm able to see it as the excellent and unique gem that others have been digging for years.