ARTIST: Thee Oh Sees
TITLE: The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
YEAR RELEASED: 2008
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: None
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: None
LINEUP: John Dwyer, Brigid Dawson, Petey Dammit, Mike Shoun. Some help from Jigmae Baer and Dave Sitek.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Lo-fi garage band doesn’t skimp on the melodies, or the fun, and this makes a listenable record despite the clatter.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Thee Oh Sees is the third band leader John Dwyer put together in succession. After concentrating on tonal experiments, neo-folk and other recording techniques as side projects, Dwyer morphed the group into a garage-punk type band after drummer Mike Shoun joined.
It’s not something you’d use to test stereo equipment, but it’s got a lot of fun elements. The melodies are there, with plenty of hooks that grab you. The sonic experiments are interesting homages to the psychedelic era, and there’s just a sense of serious fun with appropriate sounding keyboards and guitar.
A few tracks still are laden with the lo-fi recording-experiment BS, but those are easily done away with, and you can just enjoy the garage rock.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: Dwyer was in two other bands that split apart in 2005 and 2006, thus elevating this from side project to full-time band.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B: A few exiled, and some won’t dig it. I did, though.