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LP
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DRUNKEN 104LP
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Not content with pouring their bleak urgency all over the trials and tribulations of modern existence with 2017 LP Gestalt, Negative Space return with a seven-song slab of brutalist post-punk -- and it's another triumph. Seething with fury, it almost (but not quite) masks its venomously-spat lyrical content behind angular basslines that Steve Hanley would've been proud to call his own and guitar chords that teeter and totter between the blunt force of Black Flag and the dissonant crunch of Gang of Four. This is no easy ride; it's music that wraps itself up in peril before clawing its way out and stomping on whatever's left. With song titles like "Theft Utopia" and "Performative", you know what you're getting -- a pointed railing against those who hide behind hypocrisy and illusion, while the monochrome glare of the music makes it clear that none of this is to be fucked with. At times it even sounds like they've been caught up in the textured smoosh of Sonic Youth's Washing Machine (1995), with guitars exploding into senses-crushing fog even as the mechanical clank of the rhythm section continues its relentless, insistent pounding.
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CD
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ROCK 010CD
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"Official reissue of ultra-rare 1970 underground psychedelic rock record born out of the early New Jersey scene and fueled by the revolutionary air of the period. The sound is raw basement fuzz guitar charged rock in it's purest form, inspired by the likes of Cream, Blue Cheer, Jimi Hendrix, Nazz and others! Fueled by the revolutionary air that prevailed during his days at Rider College and the entrapment of marriage at a young age, Rob Russen drew upon his frustrations and anger as well as the influences of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Blue Cheer, the Illusion, Steppenwolf, and Nazz among others of the era to create the material for Hard, Heavy, Mean & Evil. Russen recruited musicians Jimmy Moy (guitar/vocals), Bob Rittner (bass/vocals) and Lou Nunziatta (drums) to form the original lineup of Negative Space. Over a three year period, with minor variations, the group continued to perform, record and evolve into Snow. In the late '60s Rob Russen, with his cherry red Gibson SG, Baldwin Exterminator amplifier and fuzztone was a powerful force in the heavy rock emanating from the East Coast. Studio engineer Tony Pappa of MSI often commented about how difficult it was to contain and capture the power and fury of Russen's music on the four track equipment used on these recordings. Negative Space and Snow recorded on Castle Records, a small independent label formed by Russen in 1965. All recording were limited issue with only a thousand copies of each single and 500 copies of the original Hard, Heavy, Mean & Evil album released. With the release of the album, Negative Space toured the East Coast extensively, opening for such national recording acts as Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge, Three Dog Night, Rare Earth, Eric Burdon & War and Grand Funk Railroad."
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