Monday 17 March 2008

BUM GRAVY – FAT DIGESTER/SUPER M (FIST-FUN RECORDS)


BUM GRAVY – FAT DIGESTER/SUPER M (FIST-FUN RECORDS)

This was a Colchester band that totally passed me by but now I am told how they were semi legendary and essential with regards to the Colchester scene.  Still I am none the wiser but my commitment to the cause does see me today paying well over the odds for an old dog eared copy of this seven inch on eBay where it is being to sent to me from Dubuque in the USA (wherever the fuck that is).

Bum Gravy conjures a disgusting image.  This is not conventional caviar; it’s an unorthodox process of play.  Music as exploration with bristles attached.  During their existence it seems so many fetishised the band’s name seemingly sating their coprophilia.

“Fat Digester” feels like the sound of stepping into an electrical storm, a cacophony of sonic and an ongoing assault of the senses.  For just over six minutes it rains down like hell with a gyrating pulse and no conventional structure.  It is an industrial march seemingly designed to intimidate the enemy and force them to yield.

Flipping forward “Super M” proves equally disarming.  With a more distinctive and coherent baseline it rolls over proceedings like a bouncing tank as more ghastly “vocals” hang over in truly ghoulish fashion.  Imagine Hawkwind steered by Alec Empire pumped through a foghorn with a few splashes of The Jesus And Mary Chain and Ministry thrown in for good measure.  Being lo-fi makes it distorted but being distorted makes it exciting.

When the dust settles you notice the words “recorded 2.2.92 at Alresford County Aurist Centre” which is the most amusing and absurd concept for anybody with an ounce of local knowledge.  Such things just do not come out of Alresford.

Mock it at your risk.  Where did things go wrong with music?  A very important moment in the Colchester music scene.

Thesaurus moment: runs.

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