(Indieville) From Public Eyesore sister label Eh? comes the depraved Gamma Goat, who might very well be rock stars in the mutant underworld living beneath the Earth's crust. Beard of Sound, Beard of Sand is a heavy slab of noisy experimental rock reminiscent of Bunny Brains and Old Time Relijun. In line with their influences, Gamma Goat's recording conditions are decidedly raw and lo-fi, lending the "songs" a gritty and ragged tone. The most successful tracks on this album are those that successfully establish an appealing groove and run with it. Caustic "Mighty Big Boots" is a fine example - a hellish bass and drums combo provides the momentum, perfectly framing the metallic guitar and biliously gruff vocals. The result has touches of death metal but falls more under lo-fi garage punk. Also lovely are the redneck blues of "Bowleater" and the Evergreen-calibre slack-groove of "Goats on Top," although the album's most moving moment could be "In the Desert," which pairs the band's trademark formula with a doomsday organ part. Importantly, some of the more abstract soundscape stuff - tape-manipulated "Killing Ducks With Nunchuks" (it sounds like what it's called!) and oversaturated "Barren," for starters - isn't as appealing as Beard of Sound's more accessible material. Regardless, much of this disc is very appealing - in a challenging, depraved sort of way. - Matt Shimmer
(Ampersand Etcetera) One of the pleasures of this 'job' is that you can follow a label if you are lucky enough to get linked in with one. Since the first large parcel of releases arrived from Bryan Day, the Public Eyesore and now Eh? journey has been nothing less than fascinating - there is very little predictable about what these labels put out: the three in the recent slim envelope are a case in point. Eh?39 Beard of Sound, Beard of Sand by Gamma Goat is the first up for show. Apparently a three piece, this shows that Americans do understand irony. The low-fi approach is taken to new and unusual areas by this mutant rock band. There are 11 tracks in this 33 minute blast. Three, Precaution procedure, Outstanding citizen and Civil suit are short metallic, rubbish-bin style percussion pieces, with a little bit of processing thrown in (the legalistic titles must mean something to someone!) that act as bridges. Mighty big boots is slow ponderous rock and roll, death metal vocals and sort of melodic (what is that cycling, slapping sound at the end - it recurs on another track) and is followed by another musical track, Goats on top with a swampy rhythm Beefheartish vocal accents, muddy recording, with wind out of tapping percussion, the electric guitar and whooping. Slurpy scrabbling introduces the slow bass and drums of Bowleater, electric guitar twangs and more distant vocals. Things descend further into lo-fi with Barren which sounds like it was recorded live in a club, the cheap cassette deck hidden under voluminous clothing resulting in a distorted thump rocker with shouted vocals which has got something to it, somewhere. Death metal growling returns with In the dessert - slow driving bluesy, buzz sliding guitar and drums. The last three track take another track: Traps the golden light of being is a skillful rapid percussion piece with jangling guitar; the high short string guitar continues in Dealin' cards/ante up which introduces some processing - backwards sounds, echoey bass, strange highlights and drum riffs, which are taken even further in Killing ducks with nunchuks which has reversed sounds and strange squeals. OK - a strange perverse rock album - you might not buy it as a stand-alone, but as part of the ever exciting and suggestive PE/Eh? magical mystery tour it actually grows on you. - Jeremy Keens
(Dead Angel) Heavy rhythms, distorted sound, hideously muffled vocals, and short songs make this an interesting (or excruciating, depending on your perspective) listening experience. This is remarkably straightforward for an eh? release; if you removed the odd vocal approach and a tendency toward eccentric mulching noises in the background, you'd be left with a mildly avant but still tuneful post-rock band with a sound not too far removed from early Public Image Ltd. In fact, I'm halfway convinced this is really a grotesque take on dub, given its deliberately peculiar mix and rhythm-heavy approach. I particularly appreciate the methodically slow and stripped-down drums and the mutant guitar sounds (especially on "Barren," where it sounds like the guitar has been dipped in sludge and is fighting its way through a swarm of locusts). Essentially encompassing the best aspects of Mouthus, Arab on Radar, and the aforementioned PIL, then throwing in a swirling slo-mo free jazz dissonance into the mix just for laughs, this is far more accessible than most of the label's output, but still eccentric and deliberately irritating enough to mystify or just plain piss off the average rock listener. I wonder what kind of reaction this band gets when they appear live. Great stuff, assuming you're okay with monstrous vocals and serpentine guitars breathing skronk and dissonance. - RKF
(Vital Weekly) What a good title for a label producing such diverse material, Gamma Goat are almost a rock band, maybe they "are" a rock band, well I think they say they are - but drumming and un-recognizable vocals- is it a pastiche? Probably not - anyway I must admit after listening to this first time I wanted to play a stones track - "start me up"- and that presents a problem as I was driving, cursory glance and it was not obvious - the best of stones CD was probably underneath the seat with decaying things- I'm not a tidy car person. The second problem is this- if you want rock music then you play the Rolling Stones - ?Sí? - Jliat
(Chain DLK) This probably one of the most weird releases on Eh?/Public Eyesore label, this band hailing from Lincoln is hardly comparable to this or that band, but in some way could be filed under: “lo-fi, strars and stripes answer to Japanese own early Boredoms”. Wait a minute, we’re talking about two really distant areas of the world and probably the bands themselves are really dissimilar for what concerns approach, impact, sound and many other things, but the level of freakiness is the same and above all consider also these U.S. guys share with Yamatsuka and friends that same taste for “apparently” demented vocals a la “back to primitivism!”. Don’t judge Gamma Goat too quickly since the tracks offer a big range of solutions and they also reminded me back in the days Skin Graft used to be such a safe place for weird combos like this...hey probably that’s where Japan and Us meet! (I’m talking about the glorious Skin Graft catalogue). I think the majority of this material comes of from live takes, anyhow the lo-fi resolution fits really perfectly with most of the material, above all when they go for primordial industrial beats which could also revive the odd spirit of Blixa and friends when Einsturzende were deeply into drugs and into making a “hell ov a noise!!!. Sometimes they’re bluesy but it’s blues from the cave men (Mighty big boots), sometimes it’s post-no wave, sometimes it’s more experimental (killing ducks with nunchuk) but everything is done in a really naïve way so find your conclusions. A weird cd. - Andrea Ferraris
(Aiding & Abetting) Heavy beard. Lots of noise, rambling guitar riffs, distorted vocals and pounding percussion. All of it sounds like it was played way behind the beard. This is all about the visceral experience. And it made me want to take a big ol' dump. That's a great feeling, man. - Jon Worley
(Kathodik) Gamma Goat è sfascio. Clangori e scorie ammassati alla rinfusa, scampoli noise rock, suggestioni e dubbi post hardcore, mutazioni genetiche di dubbia provenienza. Biascicamenti, mugolii tendenziosi, un basso catacombale, una chitarra che potrebbe essere anche quella dei Flipper (o dei Pil), lo-fi ed attitudine garage rock (più o meno dalle parti dei Pussy Galore o degli Old Time Relijun). Sembra un gruppo rock annientato da una stanchezza chimicamente indotta, pare un corpo che non ne vuol sapere di fermarsi. Tragico a volte, tanto ma tanto che viene il sospetto che a Tom Waits, i Gamma Goat possano piacere. E forse in parte è vero, anche se, oramai Tom ha messo la testa a posto, ed immagino che di questa roba non sappia proprio cosa farsene. A tragedia, si aggiunge tragedia. Una vena grottesca e surreale, che si materializza sotto forma di siparietti ritmici spastici (guazzabuglio di metalli e chitarrine ben oltre la soglia finale...), innesto geniale (o svilente, a seconda della prospettiva d'osservazione), fra Neubauten incapaci e folgorati degli esordi, Residents in viaggio organizzato parrocchiale, e This Heat che non ne vogliono proprio sapere di funzionare a dovere (le terminali Traps The Golden Light Of Being, Dealin' Cards / Ante Up e Killing Ducks With Nunchuks). Roba da maneggiare con guanti da lavoro ben spessi. Anche indossare una tuta protettiva è consigliato, per ripararsi adeguatamente dagli schizzi di liquami assortiti. Parti di organo doom paiono esserci (a tratti), field recordings al limite del demenziale anche. Bene. Un tambureggiamento mongoloide metallico/tribale, impreziosito da un basso di gomma annoiato ed una chitarra affilata e stonata. La voce, l'indice di gradimento della tragedia (o farsa), messa in atto. Non si sale mai di giri, sempre aggrappati al proprio pezzetto di roccia, con presa malferma, senza riuscire a frenare la progressiva caduta verso il basso, che sai prima o poi arriverà. I Gamma Goat son da seguire. Con attenzione (in tutti i sensi...). - Marco Carcasi
