Crawlspace - Blink Once For Yes

It has taken me months to get tho this, because how does one describe the rantings'n'ravings of fellow Gizmos Eddie Flowers' experimental, spontaneously improvised, cosmic rock'n'roll band, Crawlspace? Here, in various incarnations and various locations, Eddie does his best to discorporate with the help of Joe Dean and Todd Homer on bass, Bob Lee and John Collinson on drums/percussion and a plethora of guitarists: Grady Runyan, Greg Hajic, Jonathan Hall, Richard Jones, Alex Gray and Mark McCormick - all from numerous other projects.

I'm told that all Crawlspace numbers come from impromptu jams that take form as the members see fit and as the music takes them. A perfect example is "Slaughterhouse Blues" - what started as a rockin' noise fest became a loose variation on the Doors "Roadhouse Blues", with pothead Eddie exposing that he got himself a bong, not a beer in the morning! Looser, less rockin' and more turbulent is "In Your House", a bit of horror movie soundtrack-styled madness that moves into the frantic wildness of "Fifteenth Cup Off The Same Old Teabag", a short instrumental that races through the dark and ends suddenly. Next up is "We Are Crawlspace", a bit of a spaced-out theme song/explanation of the group backed by a simply riff with layers of squawk and feedback that is followed by "I Saw You on Sunset", which reminds me a bit of Pere Ubu via Modern Dance with Eddie's glossolalia over a pulsating, feedback drenched rhythm - pretty terrific interaction between 2 guitars (Jonathan and Richard) and the two percussionists.

A very demented take on "Hot Rod Lincoln", "Hot Rod Race" is musically a bit more organized than much of Crawlspaces material, but only to a point as even it goes sliding off into the void, simnply held together by Bob Lee's smash'n'crash drumming. Also seemingly a bit more structured is the cool, slow slither of "Blip on the Radar", a bluesly groove that reminds me of something that I just can't put my finger on...Another short bit of crazed cacophony appears in "Sixteenth Cup Off The Same Old Teabag" before we get somewhat funky in "Meanwhile...", another mix of 2 guitars and 2 drums/percussionists - really dig this line-up a lot - they work together well and give a full background for Eddie's stream of consciousness ravings. The CD concludes with a tumultuous take on the Dell Vetts "Last Time Around", with fuzz guitar rhythms and layers of intertwining leads and vibrato'd commotion.

If you dig a bit of dementia and challenge to your rock'n'roll, definitely find this or any of the multiple releases that Crawlspace has done since the early 80's!