Originally hailing from an art commune in Providence, Rhode Island, two-piece bass and drums combo Lightning Bolt have formulated an amplified and overwrought take on rock'n'roll. While their fourth album seems designed simply to damage eardrums, on closer inspection it reveals remarkably complex interplay, like free jazz played with blunt instruments. Locked within this primal clatter there are songs struggling to be heard - chief among them 'Captain Caveman', which seems to acknowledge the influence of kids' cartoons. If Lightning Bolt played with guns rather than bass and drums, they'd probably shoot up high schools. As it is, Hypermagic Mountain is an assault on the decency afflicting modern music.
The next 10: Lightning Bolt, Hypermagic Mountain
Contributor
Chris Campion
Chris Campion writes for the Guardian. He is the author of Walking on the Moon, an unauthorised biography of the Police, and Wolfking, an authorised biography of Papa John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, as well as a ghost writer and producer of reissues for the label Saint Cecilia Knows
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