Thee Oh Sees

Warm Slime (In the Red)

By Eleanor Whitney
Published: May 16th, 2010 | 7:00am

Imagine if the soft, psychedelic rockers of 1960’s San Francisco took more amphetamines than acid, cranked up the reverb and tempo of their songs, extended their length, and infused them with extra world-weary bitterness. The result might sound like Thee Oh Sees latest album, Warm Slime. The melodic rock ‘n’ roll record kicks off with the 13 minute long title track which begins with a crunch of jangling guitars and fades in and out with ecstatic bursts of guitar interspersed with delicate, drony sections and plenty of “hey hey”’s, “la la”’s, and whoops to satisfy those who love psycho-psychedelia. At times, the vocals on Warm Slime are buried under layers of reverb, especially on the feedback-heavy “Flash Bats” and the frantic rocker “Castiatic Tackle,” giving it a straightforward garage rock feel.

Fronted by the ever-prolific John Dwyer, Thee Oh Sees began as an outlet for his instrumental home recordings, but after many name changes, has evolved into a proper band complete with vocals, which are shared by Dwyer and keyboardist Brigid Dawson. Still, the album retains a delightfully homemade, lo-fi feeling, as if the chaotic, barely contained energy of the band live was recorded in one take.

Overall, Warm Slime is a catchy, unpredictable, and fun listen that would sound as at home in an obscure collection of fringe ‘60s rock 7 inches as it does bursting from stereo speakers in 2010.

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Thee Oh Sees MySpace page

In the Red Records