The early-mid ‘80s had their share of insane combos — The Birthday Party, Black Flag and Minor Threat had the raw power to melt your mind in seconds. SWANS, Einsturzende Neubauten and Big Black created enough overwhelming sonic pressure their sounds might actually flatten you. And Sonic Youth displayed such a dizzyingly unpredictable mix of art, pop culture and violence you’d sometimes leave their shows drooling. The Buttholes shared elements with all of these groups, but added an insane psychedelic edge and a propensity for bizarre spectacle.
40 years later, The Butthole Surfers have announced their first batch of reissues in collaboration with Matador Records certain to raise the roof for a lot of people who thought they had a pretty good handle on the outer realms of the ‘80s indie-rock scene. And while the recordings are not the fully immersive experience of the Buttholes in concert, you may still feel as though you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole the size of Texas itself.
By the time they started touring to preview and then support the revamped version of ‘Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac,’ the Buttholes’ live show was a berserk, evolving extravaganza of strobes, smoke, clothespins, naked dancing, bullhorns, raving lunacy and music that was as madly mind-blowing as that of any band who ever lived.
‘Another Man’s Sac’ was also wildly advanced over the previous records. Parts of the LP swaddled their punk edge inside so much oink and babble you almost couldn’t discern it, with other segments stretching out into a mutant form of garage blues, and others just swirling out of control.
Track Listing
- Concubine
- Eye Of The Chicken
- Dum Dum
- Woly Boly
- Negro Observer
- Butthole Surfer
- Lady Sniff
- Cherub
- Mexican Caravan
- Cowboy Bob
- Gary Floyd
