Newcastle based trio make their mark with a ramshakle blend of electro blues and fuzzy junk yard funk that comes on like John Cale meets Captain Beefheart with Joe Meek on the mix.
At just under eleven and a half minutes long this four-track release covers an area of musical no man’s land with both abandon and reflection in equal amounts. Where Guessmen’s musical soundclash instantly aurally succeeds while others flounder through musical patchworks is the fact that the messy bang and stutter sounds so animated and exciting.
There’s real skill and attention to detail in making the constantly scattering particles of “Average Fish”s glitchy stomping analogueness sound like the anthem of the most coherent drunk man to ever threaten a yard of ale. With more than enough remarkable debris in the background to thoroughly mangle a less solid tune there’s a coherent electronic junkyard aesthetic to much of the band’s repertoire that’s occasionally softened by more conventional but refreshing instrumentation like the clarinet.
Even though they ably prove that they bang like the highest heeled unshaven Warp signed glam band ever they’re wise enough to also advertise their more thoughtful side. The sequencing of the melancholic alcohol tinged regret-filled closer “Human Being Kind” brings the band a more mature perspective leaving the EP with the tinkling of the milkman’s delivery on the ‘morning after’. Its softer electronic musical droplets (tears?) and rain on grass FX give a sensible flipside to the megaphone barked freak show tales and after “Troglodyte”s asthmatic skank has battered the brain with its tree trunk arms it’s a welcome relief.Guessmen - Hobo Disco EP
1. Average Fish2. Don't Know Where It Is
3. Troglodyte
4. Human Being Kind
buy the astounding ''back from the bins'' album direct from their website
