Harry Pussy - Real New England Fuck Up
(Palilalia)

"Fuck you motherfucker! Fuck you motherfucker! If I find you I'm gonna cut your fucking balls off! Fuck you!" This sting of obscenities is literally the first thing you hear come out of the grooves of this new Harry Pussy live album. Blatant, unapologetic confrontation and hostility, with no semblance of sarcasm. The brilliant liner notes that cover the whole record sleeve give context to this. Apparently drummer, now main vocalist Adris, had some of her drum gear snatched away by one of the opening bands they played with that night. One of the many moments of chaos recorded in remembrance of that '96 US tour. How this set was recorded is unknown to me, but thankfully it has been pressed onto 12"s of black plastic because this album is a bombshell blast of excellent noise! The kind of sharp, chaotic and free blasting racket I come to expect (and truly love) from Harry Pussy. At this point, the band had evolved into a trio with addition of their 2nd guitarist, Mark Feehan. Now the twisted genius of HP was in it's final form. It’s pretty fascinating that Bill Orcutt was able to find a guitarist that was able to play along with, and validate, his angular/atonal style. Not that you could really even tell, or make out anything in this recording, it sounds almost like a straight up noise-core record. Screeching, clanging, skronking waves of blown out guitar destruction and twisted notes swallow all the empty sonic space over-top Adris' free and hard hitting drumming. Peaks of strained screams peak out amidst the chaos; almost like a vicarious scream of terror from a surely blown away crowd (of probably 15 people). All three of them stopping and starting at exactly the same time, it's scary tight. No song titles or anything. Just three hasty stick clicks before every song. Eventually the set completely falls apart into feedback and noise after a very beautiful performance of the song "Mandolin (Punk Rock Is Killing All My Friends).” Side two is a performance from 1994 in Athens, GA, and the power and impact remains very much the same here. Vicious, aggressive and unapologetic noise-rock bastardizations. Maybe even a little more intense given that this was their first tour in the South. An essential purchase for anyone already into Harry Pussy, and well worth a listen for any curious ears. (VII)
Check out live cut from that era here.