Brazilian garage punk-blues duo, Marco Butcher and Luis Tissot (aka Jesus & The Groupies) have released their fifth album of frenetic craziness upon the world.
Despite having never heard of this pair before, I listened with eager anticipation……the band’s name was intriguing in itself, so what would the music hold for me?
12 songs of down-tuned guitars, scuzzy keyboards, cheap drums (and everything in-between) mixed in with a healthy dose of loops, sound-effects and fuzzed, guttural vocals…….and that is what make this album compelling listening.
Borne of the back-alleys, Insomnia is an at-times dissonant aural assault which blends trash blues with electronica, punk and experimental rock. Butcher’s raspy vocal delivery is somewhat reminiscent of Billy Gibbons crossed with Tom Waits, and provides the real glue to the disparate blend of styles and effects which permeate across the album.
Songs like Hell, Henry Dirty Hands, Moscow Idaho and Down The Hill paint sonic landscapes that take the listener into the very depths of the sordid underworld and darker side of life that Marco Butcher bases much of his musical musings around.
Insomnia is an album which is a soundtrack to the real-world; that part of life which is often hidden in the seedy underground of the back-blocks of suburbia. Yet it is still vibrant, and full of its’ own vigour and soul. Insomnia is the cracked, though not yet broken window, that sheds light into that life.
Insomnia is released on Mandinga Records, and is available on vinyl here, and via streaming on Spotify.
Mmmm HMMMM LOL,