WET TUNA - Livin The Die

Utterly boo-licious debut slab by this new duo, made up of Matt MV Valentine and Pat P.G. Six Gubler, who have been in cahoots since the near-forgotten days of Memphis Luxure. The pair (mostly known for guitar-aktion) create a full bands worth of jams using percussion and keys and all-else. The results make for one of the more mind-melting platters tove hit the Valley in a good while. Like many of the best sides this pair has been associated with, the music on Livin The Die is an elegant balance of ramble and spear. The songs formats are as loose as Earl Butzs shoes but each of them is lanced with guitar sounds as tight as his legendary fist. Around these spumes of electric menace youll find rings of crazy space burble, vocals so deeply layered they sound like something happening in the back of Daevid Allens brain. But large swathes of the album are rurally expansive, as befits the mountainside on which it was recorded. Pods of guitar-pedal-whomp slowly surface in the middle of whirling sea of harmonica slurps, juice harp bwongs and vocals as dreamy as they are lost. Roll a bone or be one. The choice, as always, is yours. Edition of 300. - Byron Coley.