Exek

There’s been plenty of jangle and no lack punk bounce from the South Hemi lately but let’s not forget that the region has a good lock on post-punk as well. Echoing some of the core principles in fellow Aussies Naked on the Vague, Total Control and Low Life, the band also digs into the twitching nerve of Swell Maps, DNA and the humid scratch of This Heat. Ahead of Two Thoughts finds Albert Wolski flanked by a full roster of musicians this time around, each working to turn the screws on the listener, but not without an infected strain of slink working its way through the mix. He sweetens the pot by pulling in Mikey Young to produce (that explains that whiff of Total Control) and the record bumps up the ante considerably from his debut.

In the tradition of the best No Wave, the record’s not without an appreciation for dance ¬– strained, dark and jerking ¬– but inflicting movement on the body nonetheless. Its beating hart, though, lies with noise. Scraping rhythm out of the grease-stained floors of industrial, pinging discordant strings around the room like dubplate car wrecks, the album seems only truly comfortable when the listener is not. The songs have a habit of standing too close and leering a little too long. Wolski knows how to pick at the surface to irritate the senses, but he’s there to salve the scrape a bit with a that wriggling itch of aluminum funk.

The record marks a new entry to Superior Viaduct’s sublabel W.25TH which began with a live collaboration between Sun Araw and Laraaji. Along with the upcoming issue from ex-Women project Cindy Lee, this is a nice start off to their non-reissue game.




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