Thee Oh Sees: A Weird Exits review – cult garage-rockers on pummelling form

John Dwyer’s San Fran garage-rockers Thee Oh Sees have a reputation for being a pitbull of a live band – biting, muscular, a little deranged – which has turned them into a cult property among the cotton bag-carrying indie massive. They’ve had enough lineup changes to rival Kiss and have released more albums than most people have on their shelves these days – 23 full-length releases in various incarnations since 2003. But this, Thee Oh Sees’ 11th studio album, is testament to how the band is ever-evolving, swirling around Dwyer, its one barking constant. It’s less a weird exit and more a brawny re-entry: new drummer-duo Ryan Moutinho and Dan Rincon add a loin-plundering pummel to Ticklish Warrior; Jammed Entrance sounds like just that, a mix of loose postpunk and tense, insistent krautrock; and Gelatinous Cube harnesses that breakneck rhythm section so brilliantly that you can feel the sweat slicking back their hair. Long may they howl.