Writhing Squares - Out of the Ether [CD]

Writhing Squares have been conjuring up cosmic slop from the Philadelphia underground for a few years now, mixing growling bass, motorik synthesis, and skronking sax into a heady brew of punk-laced progressive R'n'R. The duo of Daniel Provenzano & Kevin Nickles emerged in 2015 with their self-released "Gemini Blues" 7-nch, following it up the next year with their debut album "In The Void Above" for the renowned Siltbreeze imprint. "Out of The Ether" is their sophomore effort, & first for Trouble In Mind. The album consists of 5 tracks of minimal, droning ambience, overtaken at times by Nickles' wailing, sax skronk; a mixture of the soulful runs of The Stooges' Steve McKay & the no-wave stabs of James Chance - drum machine, and Provenzano's guttural basslines that add an industrial menace to a locked-in groove and lysergicly introspective lyrics. Album closer "A Whole New Jupiter" takes up all of the LP version's side two, slingshotting the listener over the event horizon and thru the center of a sonically sculpted black hole, it's relentless motorik dirge evolving over the course of the track's 19-minute run time into an abstract pulse before lurching back into the groove, riding it into the sun.