In E

“Reel EEE,” on the other hand, begins with his amp humming, humming, and his scratchy strings slowly building to some demonic instrumental chorus. Imagine the great Pelt of Appalachia, connected and zoned out. When the drums finally come, they hover like a GIF of someone dancing at the disco on an endless loop. That beat bullies away the layers so you can hear the individual threads of the collective rumble—the guitar, the screeching violin, the plucked strings. Focus on any of them long enough, and you'll disappear again, lost and locked in a beautiful melee. When the tape ends 15 minutes later, you may wonder where the time has gone, perhaps wondering if the clock itself has somehow skipped a beat.

Water Damage, of course, are not the first band to gather this kind of barrage. Whether their particular sources lie somewhere in Germany in the early 70s or in Memphis and Delta decades ago, their path runs through the Grateful Dead and no wave, Load Records and, more recently, 75 Dollar Bill. They nod to this lineage of proud cacophony with closer “album/ladybird-2022-remaster” class=”external-link” data-event-click=”{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ladybird-2022-remaster"}” href=”https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ladybird-2022-remaster” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Ladybird,” a 2005 paranoid project by Austin-via-London act Shit and Shine. Like Water Damage, Shit and Shine can expand and contract as needed, incorporating guests and prolonged engagements until last call. (Shit and Shine sidekick Craig Clouse is playing the US/Mexico tour with Water Damage's Nate Cross along with King Coffey of another obvious predecessor, the Butthole Surfers.)

And, again, like Water Damage, Clouse album/ladybird-2022-remaster” class=”external-link” data-event-click=”{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ladybird-2022-remaster"}” href=”https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ladybird-2022-remaster” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>was once described Shit and Shine as “Repeat. Noise. A little humor.” As Water Damage nears the end of their 20-minute romp through “Ladybird”—where distorted guitars surge through warring drums to be swallowed back up, where vocals sound like they've been trapped in a warped heat reel of magnetic tape for decades—you hear this the humour. This is wonderfully absurd music, pushing rock 'n' roll to a threshold where you either have to submit or just leave. Just go for it already.

In October 1972, Tony Conrad—the iconoclastic violinist who had helped name the Velvet Underground and helped give La Monte Young's timeless music its theoretical underpinnings—met with the always mischievous Faust in Hamburg. Their session, Outside the Dream Syndicate, became a hypnotic classic, Conrad's drone going through the tunnel like a rusty razor blade. But Conrad often dismissed this record, saying they all sounded like hippies. This was particularly damning at the time, as the chthonic horrors of the Vietnam War reached new lows. The late Conrad might have loved Water Damage. On In Ethey start from the same basic premise—laying a big beat under a ferocious drone—and scream, offering none of the sense of security or quarter that Conrad must have heard in Outside the Dream Syndicate. Water Damage roar and rage against the ills of our time, their volume and power make you forget for at least 20 minutes in one clip. And then, they start again.