Sperm Whale + White Rabbit

Joe Preston really is the man. Everything from his involvement in bands such as Melvins, Earth, and Sunn O))), to his badass lumberjack beard – it all just leads to the conclusion that he is in fact one of the coolest guys to have ever existed. I know, that is quite a claim, but just listen to this compilation of the ‘Sperm Whale’ and ‘White Rabbit’ EPs by his one-man alter-ego, Thrones, and you will know exactly what I mean.

First, I need to get one thing straight. 99% of the time, I fucking despise drum machines, but that is because a lot of bands try to pass them off as sounding like actual acoustic drums, but of course fail miserably every single time, especially those who use them for blast beats. Holy FUCK do I hate bands that do that. But when bands like Thrones use a drum machine, it’s not to take the place of a real drummer, as I’m sure Joe Preston would have no trouble find an actual drummer. It’s just there to add to the overall bizarre, almost inhuman nature of everything else that’s going on, and it works so, so well.

The compilation starts off with “Oso Malo”, a tune which incorporates pretty much every signature element that makes the Thrones sound. Joe’s vocals appear in full form, but of course have been drowned in vocoders and various other effects, to the point where they hardly sound like a human at all. Keeping time is the damaged, fucked up drum machine, which alternates between 5/4, 4/4, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. And what would a Thrones song be without some of Joe’s downtuned bass wizardry, pumping out riff after riff of sludgy brilliance? Well that appears here, also in a full-blown fashion, and just pumps out riff after riff of maniacal, low-end churning.

“Nuts and Berries” starts off with a sample from the classic movie/book A Clockwork Orange. It’s the part where the wheel-chaired man who’s house Alex is staying at (the same man who’s wife the Droogs had raped) says “I’m pleased you appreciate good wine. Have another glass...” Then Joe greets us again with his downtuned, sludgy bass, accompanied by the drum machine. Then his vocals come in, and as usual, have been vocoded and fucked with beyond belief. It then proceeds to go into another odd-timed section, which is something Mr. Preston seems to be quite fond of (as am I). You don’t hear enough odd-time signatures in sludge, so this is quite a refreshing aspect. This song isn’t as crazy as “Oso Malo”, but it’s still Thrones, so you know it’s still going to pretty god damn weird.

The next song, “Manmtn” (Man Mountain) is my favorite. Joe Preston may despise the Melvins now, but there is no doubt that he took a bit of influence from his time with them, and it shows a lot in this song. It starts off with an intro similar “Eye Flies”, the opening track on the Melvins’ ‘Gluey Porch Treatments’ LP, meaning that while a steady, clean bass plods along, some serious feedback is layed on top while the drum machine pumps out yet another damaged rhythm, but this time without an actual consistency. Once that part is over, the sludge begins. The riff is the slowest, heaviest one on here, and I can’t help but turn my speakers WAY up every time I hear it. While the drum machine pumps out a very Dale Crover-esque trudging, Joe belts out some really deep bellows, and this time without any vocoders, which is nice to hear. This song follows a similar formula throughout, but it never, EVER gets boring. It just keeps your head slowly nodding and plodding along with the rhythms present.

“Acris Venator” is a short, 2 minute piece, consisting of a synthesizer, which plays some strange melodies with an angelic, ethereal effect on it, that pulses and oscillates throughout the song’s entirety. It’s a good interlude, but I could do without it. It’s definitely not bad though, so it doesn’t have that skip-worthy trait to it.

And just when I start to think this release couldn’t get any better, “Django” comes on. This is probably the sweetest song ever. It’s an old spaghetti western number, originally written by Louis Bacalov. It stars off with a keyboard playing with what seems to be a pipe-sounding bell effect. After this, a clean bass line, a drum machine playing in 3/6, and Mr. Grizzly singing in Spanish, and like “Manmtn”, features HIS voice, without any vocoding effects, and singing quite melodically. The reason why this song is so awesome is because it just takes you completely off-guard. Even if you’re familiar with Joe’s love for odd covers, you still wouldn’t expect THIS from him. And as usual, it’s done damn well. He’s a genius.

“Ephraim” is another odd piece, consisting of mournful-sounding bass lines, both clean and distorted, as well as some atmospheric synths. At one point, the drum machine comes in, but it’s very brief. It’s about four minutes long, and while some may feel it drags on, it doesn’t bother me a bit, although I do occasionally find myself skipping it, but that’s because I’m always just so eager for the next song to come on, which brings me to my next point. This song I speak of is “Anguish of Bears”, featuring his signature downtuned bass wizardry and plodding drum machine. His vocals are also kept in their natural form here, giving Preston’s bellows the power they deserve, as well as demand. The plodding continues for a most of the song, but not a repetitive way. There are plenty of different sections and synthesized oddities placed where Joe deems fit, and the pace does pick up towards the end, which is where the climax of the song is.

The compilation ends with “Obolus”, which is about nine minutes of actual music, two minutes of odds spacey sounds, and then roughly thirty-four minutes of crickets chirping, which I’ve never been able to listen to all the way through. But aside from the crickets, this song is awesome, and I’ll explain why. It begins with Joe singing with some heavy vocoding added, which is accompanied by some odd synths. This goes on for roughly three minutes, which may be a bit too long, but once the sludging and trudging comes in, you forget all about that. While the double-tracked bass is just oozing out mud, the pulsing rhythm is being kept by none other then Joe’s odd drum machine, and is eventually joined with the same styled vocals seen in the beginning of the song. The song stays at a slow steady pace, but it builds and builds as more vocal tracks are added almost section from section, creating a rather epic feel, in that oh-so-strange Thrones kind of way.

This is an excellent disc, and I recommend it into anyone into the more experimental side of the sludge genre, or anyone even remotely into Joe’s work. Buy it.