Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Record Review - Darth Vegas

Published in the June issue of Rhythms Magazine.


Darth Vegas
Brainwashing For Dirty Minds
Romeo Records / Newmarket Music

Every now and then something lands on your desk which, when you put it on, sends you down the rabbit hole, seemingly with no way out – buy the ticket, take the ride is an apt sentiment on how to handle these oddball situations, and never has it been more apt than when listening to Sydney-based Darth Vegas’ second effort, Brainwashing For Dirty Minds.

To be honest, this record could be just as easily reviewed in a surf mag, a metal mag or a movie mag as it could be in Rhythms, such is the myriad styles and sounds found within.  Creeping and crawling, it melds genres with reckless abandon – just when you get used to a bit of surf twang, they throw a death metal riff in there – seemingly with no rhyme nor reason, and yet it fits together eerily well.

I’m not saying I like Brainwashing For Dirty Minds, I’m not saying I don’t like it – it’s a musical journey, for wont of a better phrase, but it is a journey, one that leaves you somewhat worn out by album’s end, a little lost, wandering around like you just woke up from an epic sleepwalk and you’ve found yourself in K-Mart in your pyjamas.  With blood dripping down your neck and a bottle of absinthe in your back pocket.  It’s psychedelic b-movie soundtracks mixed with horror and surf – I’ll leave the rest up to you.

Samuel J. Fell

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