Triclops - Out Of Africa

Sci-fi bristles with cautionary tales of gene-splicing and its freakish consequences, but in an Alternative Tentacles tome, “freakish” is a desirable trait. Triclops!, a result of SF Bay Area inter-band splicing (featuring members of Bottles and Skulls and the Lower Forty-Eight fortified by personnel from AT stalwarts Victims Family and Fleshies), assaults the public with the best acid punk around today. Don’t let their pedigree fool you: Triclops! Turns the dial down on the bellicose punk/hardcore you might expect, instead opting for meandering yet tension-filled psychedelic epics. The seven songs on Out of Africa, their first full-length, are reminiscent of the golden hits from the 1990s Touch and Go or Amphetamine Reptile catalogs, tweaked out on the exhilarating paranoia typical of America in the early aughts. Distorted vocals, oscillating bass lines, and jittery guitars form a nervous, seasick swath over the plodding drums. Songs unfurl into worlds of their own with byzantine lyrics-the lament of an Iraqi museum curator in one, an ode to the botfly (a tropical parasite) in another-while the music explores variations in tone and urgency. Positive reviews followed their EP on Sick Room and picture-disc 7-inch on GSL; expect gushing praises for this fine morsel of acid punk-prog. Featuring AT veterans Larry Boothroyd of Victims Family on bass and John Geek of Fleshies on vocals; other members were in Bottles and Skulls (Sick Room) and Lower Forty Eight (Monotreme). Toured with Qui, played with the Melvins, Acid Mothers Temple, Don Caballero, Comets on Fire, Circle, etc. Recorded with Kurt Schlegel, the Melvins’ engineer, at his Lucky Cat Studio. “The Triclops! version of punk rock destabilizes preconceptions with every twisted minute. Best live band in San Francisco? Provided you like your music unpredictable, aggressive, and more than a little bit threatening-yes.” -SF Weekly. “Super proggy acid-punk ... breaking down into some surprisingly melodic pop, before getting heavy and crazy.... For anyone that’s been missing that old ’90s Touch and Go/AmRep sound, or people that just love proggy flipped out PUNK RAWK, this is definitely recommended.” -Aquarius Records. “Completely nostalgic and futuristic at the exact same time, combining the best things about the edgy, analog era of post-hardcore. But it finds new, immediately satisfying and legitimately acrobatic ways of putting everything together.” -The New Scheme.

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