The moment that everybody finally succumbs to the tension of this modern world, a giant chorus of laughter will be heard ringing around the world. It’s just too bad that everyone will join in, and that there’ll be nobody left to analyse why and how it happened, and what key we were laughing at.
Yeah, it’s nothing new. There are countless psychological reports about people who, upon receiving some atrocious, life-altering news, began howling with laughter while rocking themselves back and forth. Have you ever been on a fairground ride where everybody is scared out of their wits? Have you ever watched a comedian trying to talk about the news? Same thing!
Laughter’s not just the best medicine. It’s a fuel to get you moving. And, that’s how Spyderhuff powers his excellently titled most recent EP, “SOMETIMES (i need to do something bad)”, a collection of songs that are big on the thrills and detached from the consequences.
Just listen to the opening title track, where Spyderhuff sounds like he’s fronting some kind of soul-influenced version of Primal Scream, while joyously singing about the need to get himself out there and start putting the hurt on somebody.
You get the sense that these kinds of declarations of war are issued merely to get your attention. But, just then, you run into the psychotic swamp-blues of “RHA-WHO-DUM (the groceryman song)”, and it’s hard to decide if Spyderhuff is just secretly communicating with a guerrilla force ready to act on his command.
The artist is certainly not pretending to be a friend of all men. The pyromaniac confessions of “MAKE FIRE,” likely the EP’s best track, sounds like 1980s The Cult given a ragged bluesy vocal and a real mean streak.
Meanwhile, on “DON’T DO IT,” the most anti-pop song released this year, Spyderhuff plays that endlessly nagging voice inside your brain that tells you that you’d better sit down before you hurt yourself, and that, nearly always, is right.
Where does it all leave us? Laughing our heads off until we can see straight ahead and can walk ourselves home. The EP’s closing track, “SADDLE UP,” sounds like the ghost of Lux Interior covering a raunchy Jerry Lewis song that was scribbled on the one bathroom in heaven. It’s an anthem for charming, cynical villains who, more often than not, get through it with a smile while others lose their cool forever.
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