Opus Null/Szijj Ferenc split LP (2012)

You're probably getting sick of all the Opus Null albums and obscure Hungarian bands I review for Drug Punk. Fine. I'll post nothing but ABBA reviews from now on, how 'bout that? HA! Gotcha! Go tell MOTHER I'm lowering standards!

Half the reason I keep coming back to these guys is that I never know what an Opus Null release is gonna sound like: they started off last year with a handful of badly-recorded, thrash-y demos that sounded like the Germs dragged through a dumpster east of the Berlin Wall.

On this split LP with Szijj Ferenc (more anon), the boys have evolved (is that the right word?) in the direction of the spaced out freakrock that featured heavily on the guitarist's solo EP from June. Opus Null can still smash it up-witness their cover of the UK Subs' "Imposztor," which ends up sounding like The Standells-but there's a lot of instrumental stuff where they work out sonic landscapes, with varying success. Their side is split evenly between louder, noisier punk-style tunes and weirdo instrumentals that bring them ever closer to space- or math-rock territory.

I didn't know what to expect from Szijj Ferenc's side, but it wasn't highly processed soundscapes a la early Krautrock like Popul Vuh. Dude gives us five tracks of elaborate, orchestrated long-form jams that don't sound like much that I'm familiar with. It's really fucking good, in a totally left field sorta way. Imagine King Arthur and his knights serenading ladies of the court while popping acid, drinking Three Horses lager, and tooling around with synthesizers.

If you check out Drug Punk chiefly for the noise, garage or punk I post, you prolly won't dig this, but if you're willing to take a chance on some pretty idiosyncratic stuff, get into it. If not, fuck off and get back to buying whatever Pitchfork tells you is good.

Listen and download HERE.

Coma Nova-Insect Sounds LP (2012)

The important thing to understand about Kalamazoo, Michigan's Coma Nova is that these gentlemen enjoy smoking weed. A lot of it. Preferably rolled up in "Psychic Rolling Papers," whatever those are.

I understand that there's a heat wave affecting most of the continental United States right now, and this is great music for a lazy summer day spent sitting in yr parents' basement, smoking as much weed as your lungs and that DIY bong can handle. "Crashing Cars" develops around a swaggering, brash riff with suitably blustery vocals and steamroller drumming. I think they're singing about gettin' fucked up and feelin' like yr on Mars.

That pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album.There's a lot of weirdo acoustic interludes, maybe too many, and sometimes the band gets pretty self-indulgent (especially on "Pigger," a drawn-out stoner jam that has all the benefits and problems of Sabbath's extended instrumental noodlings). Nevertheless, they're indulging in the right direction, and that direction would be somewhere on a tribute to the legendary, all-mighty Sleep. I can safely say that these kids woulda loved Coma Nova, if CN was recording ca. 1976 and not ca. 2012. Toke up and freak out, people.

Coma Nova lives here, where you can also buy the LP. Check out their other stuff, too.