SKATERS, THE - Gambling in Ohpas Shadow

Does anything more need to be said about The Skaters? They exploded into the consciousness in early 2004 with Dark Rye Bread (an album about to get a vinyl reissue courtesy of Norways Humbug imprint) and blew minds everywhere with their exceptionally JOYOUS music. For those who havent heard them yet The Skaters are the duo of James Ferraro and Spencer Clark. The main instrument used by these 2 geniuss is voice, but not voice as were used to it. Ecstatic chants are looped live through archaic delay units and played at a monstrous volume through old and broken amplifiers. Occasionally a broken-leaded guitar is strummed, or a very bent tribal sounding percussion looms into the mix, but overall its those crazy gnostic-gnomic voices that dominate.\r\n As with James Ferraros solo Wooden Cupboard project (see below) the immediate comparison that springs to mind is that of Angus MacLises Kathmandu recordings. Not everything is so chaotic on this disk, there are poignant moments of relative calm, but overall it is a remarkably distorted, energising - and joyous - affair.\r\n Note that some of the distortion on this disk is digital in nature, a further manifestation of Ohpas will sings morsecode clicks from out the void... - Pseudoarcana.