The sinister sophomore LP from Melbourne's EXHAUSTION stirs up another ghastly cloud of ether and deadly rhythm and lays down one of the year's most brooding blows to the brain. And to think those savage swipes at post punk were just the beginning, you'd have to reach back and connect Per Bystrom in his previous outfit Ooga Boogas to line up that illustrious and brilliant throb that's your instant introduction to each and every penetratingly repetitive K-hole of delights. Biker was recorded live in just one day, and with no overdubs, clinching it's spontaneity and it's atmospheric ominousness in perfect time, with their exposed fraying ends unravelling into each song from the next, an ugly, noisy, burnt metal-smelling evolution at times, but one fascinating enough to garner repeated attention. At 7:11 minutes, "Twin Lights" very well could send you over the edge, "Frankie Teardrop" style, into a pit of fluid madness, I'm almost there right now.
There's just an overall freedom on Biker that keeps EXHAUSTION in a dark corner of the Australian music landscape, and coupled with such an impenetrable and foreboding wall of scree riding an undulating bassline out into the sunset, it's no wonder they chose that name for this album, it's just got that biker state of mind, man. Not 'biker rock' in any way, just that lusty, fleeting freedom, coupled with an evil intention, building itself with each rotating riff, right into an inescapable beast that just swallows your head. Let's face it, Aarght knows what they're doing and it might be somewhat out of your punk lifestyle range to get "this far out" but this is zoner rock that's got cavemen chewing on lasers and exposed wires with tombstones in their eyes, and that's just what this black hole of a planet needs right now.
Don't miss the Biker LP Launch party on Saturday at The Tote with Zond, Skyneedle and Dribble, and be sure to grab the LP from Aarght or in fine record stores everywhere.
STREAM Biker right here:
