THE PROCESS OF WEEDING OUT (EP)Year: 1985
Genre: Post-Punk/Free Jazz
Label: SST Records
Tracks: 4
Length: 26 Minutes
My Rating: 6/8
Sorry it's been awhile since I've written a review, I guess. Feels that way, anywaez. Anyways, yeah, I had kind of some depression shit going on and a lot of school work too and I think I should go take a shit, so I'll go and do that and then get [it] on with the GODDAMNED REVIEW ALREADY!!!
Okay, I typed that previous part about three days ago and I still haven't finished the fucking review... I'm just gonna start blaming it on the Zoloft. Anyways, I'm on break right now (sort of) so I've got no more exkuses. And I feel just fine right now, thank you very much...
Anyways, ABOUT THE ALBUM... this is "The Process of Weeding Out" by Black Flag, a four-song instrumental EP in which the band further explores their new punk-jazz-metal-stoner motif which could be said "weeded out" a lot of people who only liked them for their hardcore sound, and there's no singing... Henry Rollins isn't on this album at all, so he was probably off masturbating or doing spoken word while the rest of the band jammed their pennises and vaggina off! This is one of the last records the band ever released while they were still together -- just a month before their final LP, "In My Head" came out... that was a cool album. But we're talking about TPOWO today, so let's get the wax a-spinnin'...
1. Your Last Affront
A real long song... starts off with just the crazy bass guitar riff... the drumming is wild and all over the place, though you get the idea that they know what's going on more than you ever will... eventually some weird lead guitar melodies can be heard, with the occasional blast of an A-chord... the guitar gets more and more intense as it starts sounding more like a speeding vehicle buzzing off into a desert. It gets around to feeling like some sort of a soundscape... real amazing. The lead guitar bubbles up to the surface of the glass panel which separates you from this wildness... be it the album sheet or the screen of the computer. In another part of the song, the beat starts getting really fast and choppy. Like a gun firing bullets! Amazing... after the chaos climaxes, the song SERIOUSLY slows down, into a trudge through a lonely, slow, cavernous atmosphere... is this my last affront? WELL GEE WILLIE WONKERZ GODDAMN IF I KNOW!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The thumping beat kind of reminds me of those first few moments of "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, or even "Three Nights" by this same band. After a few minutes, the music gets ultra-fast again and gradually returns to the original bass riff, kind of like how the song started before the slow part. What a song...
2. Screw the Law
This is a fast one with a hardcore beat... however, the guitar sounds hardly anything like that style of music... more heavy metal, but still nothing like metal... a lot of lead guitar wankage and a pretty cool bass riff. At the very end, the drumming gets REALLY crazy, and then the song's over. End of Side A.
3. The Process of Weeding Out
A ten-minute song... pretty much the punk equivalent of free jazz... ridiculous ultra-fast drumming, improvised lead guitar playing, funky bass-playing... eventually, the drumming turns into a more normal beat, but it doesn't last for too long. Very improvised, un-traditional sounding music... I would barely even call this rock music.
4. Southern Rise
This one's got a slow, blues-type beat and a pretty damn cool bass riff. Nice, relaxed guitar sounds... the beat eventually gets faster and more punkish... towards the later half of the song, the guitar solos get more intense but also quieter... either that or it's just my imagination. Sometimes you'll hear drumrolls that sound like machine guns firing off. Pretty cool. The song fades out...
Kind of like the second half of "Family Man". My favorite songs on this record are "Your Last Affront" and "Southern Rise". Actually, the second song is pretty good too, I just wasn't extremely into the song that the EP is named after. But it's a pretty neat listen. Don't expect a Minor Threat song here! Weird, jazzy, discordant, but somehow it all works. Anyways, sorry for taking so long to make this review, I just felt shitty and lazy lately. Bye bye.
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