*** NEW NEW NEW ** INTERVIEW with CC c/o Terminal Boredom
Live Review from Terminal Boredom: Clockcleaner. I can not blow this band any harder right now. (RK)
From Siltbreeze Recs Web Log: This Ain't No Homo Picnic.....Clockcleaner's 'Missing Dick/By The Door' 7"According to the history books adorning the shelves in my Kung Fu library, the Hardcore movement (proper) went up it's own ass real quick. It was a coast to coast bacterial breeding ground for doof's 'n load's alike. Once, that was a good thing, but when the preachin started & commandments were written, it was time to check out. I mean, when a label like Revelation becomes IT w/ their patented brand of suburbacore, you gotta come to the sad realization it ain't about the "freshness" of the music anymore. But I was gone long before then. Personally, I always went for the bands that were less concerned about speed &/or point of view & more into wreckin 'n rebuildin their sound. Some scribes called it Artcore & there was bands that were outstanding provocateurs of this idiom, deliverin bucketloads've bodacious sonic sputter. The (early) Butthole Surfers was one. Pilgrim State, Kor-Phu, Chemotherapy, Mecht Mensch, Spike In Vain...their all at the top of the list too. They blurred a lotta lines, used delays, feedback & all sorts of gadgets to fuck w/heads 'n sounds, creatin great walls of skree & glee that were championed by the phantom few. The intention might've been Hardcore, but what got delivered was greater & more complicated than that. Clockcleaner are a contemporary (& local) band that subscribe to that same all-but-lost damagery. The science is a little more advanced in their attack but if I stand far enough away from the speakers, it sounds like it could be, ya know, almost 1982 ('83 at the latest). This new 7" by'em is a good place to start. The sustained tension that the rhythm section builds is superb 'n stuccoed over that is mounds of lush psychosis whipped up by stinging guitar, vocal scrunch & extraneous add on fuckery that gives it a singular edge.It ain't no New Weird America, ain't no Noise Underground, ain't no none of that. They ain't got no name yet for what Clockcleaner's up to. No good name anyway. Dimmer bulbs & flatter feet have opined about'em being nothin more than an extension of 90's noise rock bands. Wow. Hey, I only got two cents invested so all's I'm gonna say is that this record woulda sounded perfect on the Special Forces label, sandwiched in between L-7 & Blight. And not (just) because of the Crucifucks cover either. If you can't unscramble the code, that's okay. You weren't meant to.
Local Punks Release Filthy Record: Clockcleaner in the Triangle
From Terminal Boredom: Clockcleaner "Nevermind" CD"I saw your girlfriend leaving the abortion clinic yesterday, with another man..." is probably the greatest opening line of a record since The Lamps 12", and offers up a pretty good summation of the kind of shit Clockcleaner is on about. "Nevermind" contains nine songs of stab and pummel rock violence, the kind of shitstorm that can only be created when a band is totally fed up with what is going on around them and decides to just tackle the listener head on. A lot of comparison has already been made to their lineage in the AmRep/Touch & Go midwest post-hardcore tradition, but they bring that rhythm heavy sound into the present day. "Interview w/A Black Man" kicks it off with a lengthy slow-cook pressure build, finally releasing around the two-minute mark into a fulfilling crush of drums/bass/delay. "Missing Dick" and "Blood Driver" keep the intensity up and the throb-thump-scratch punishes you, like getting worked over by a mean drunk. "NSA" is a scorcher, with hardcore speed (and "the hit" here if you ask me) and they also show off their Anal Babes/Brainbombs riff-murder fixation on the creeping and repetitive "Early Man". "In the Shit", "Deaf Man Talking", and "Gentle Swastika" give you a glimpse of the other scabs this thing picks at, and the cover art is fittingly unsettling. As good a representation of this band that can be had, it fixes some of the shortcomings of "The Hassler" (less Yow on the lyrics, fuller sounding tunes) to make a succint nine-song statement of purpose that doesn't linger too long, but also sates your bloodlust. CD only right now, there is no justice if this doesn't end up on vinyl.(RK)
Some dude named Porktamer: A band that has more scenester-cred than compositional skills.
Some guy with a blog of his own: Clockcleaner has a new CD out on Reptillian records called Nevermind. I'm sure they thought that was clever. Expect lots of post-84 Black Flag, stolen licks from Jesus Lizard albums & ripped off tunes from Amphetmine Reptile releases.