Aside from their musical output, the fame – or notoriety – of Californian rockers Osees derives from two main factors. First, their consistently changing the spelling of their name on different releases (eg, Thee Oh Sees, OCS, etc). Second, their gushing prolificness of output. They’ve been releasing music for 21 years and Sorcs 80 is their 29th album. That’s going some.
The short version of this review is that it’s a spirited electro-garage splurge but its sameyness occasionally grows annoying. Although Osees is a band it mostly represents the artistic vision of one person, frontman John Dwyer. He clearly enjoys the band dynamic, as opposed to his earliest, more solo outings, and revels in staying lean, raw and spontaneous, despite his outfit’s longevity. Sorcs 80 sees the group dump guitars altogether, in favour of synths. However, this is not an album of electronica. The approach is pure rough-edged punk.
Opener “Look at the Sky” sets the agenda, gruff-shouty, “One, two, three, four” choruses and a speeding monoto-riff recalling The Ramones more than, say, Hot Chip, or even Suicide. And so it goes. “I’m a fucking blimp,” Dwyer sings on “Blimp”, and 13 songs burn by, mostly short’n’sharp, sometimes boasting a Stooges-style free jazz sax element, notably on “Drug City”.
Occasionally there’s some small exploration of the kit being used, as on the wibbly, whispery wonk-pop of the four-minute “Lears Ears”, and at other times, the band spreads out and demonstrates its chops, as on the percussive, almost-funk of “Also the Gorilla…”, meanwhile “Plastics” noisily tips its hat to pop’s favourite classical steal, Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major”.
There are some one-off pogo-about jollies on Sorcs 80 but, by the time this listener reached the concluding “Neo-Clone”, possibly a Tubeway Army pastiche, its lack of nuance or core tonal variety have worn thin.
Below: listen to Osees' album Sorcs 80
