Brian Wilson Shock Treatment/Operation Sun Probe

Brian Wilson Shock Treatment return from fraternizing with the Druid Time Lords and set the pulleys and levers for the heart of the sun—and elsewhere—with their fantastic new Operation Sun Probe. A garage psych feast, Operation Sun Probe carries over the unhinged fracture of Druid Time Lords in all its unpolished glory adding a sharper focus that actually accents the sonic rupturing rather than diluting it. BWST cover all corners of their solar garage, delivering their dirty brand of space and psych rock, veer into prog territory (The Circle Is A Square, Operation Sun Probe), spoon out chunky nuggets of rock exhaust with hooks (Baron Mandrake, the wonderful The Flood), get down in the swamp with the prophetic Cell Phone Radiation Blues and take on a few covers with their spooky take on Donovan’s If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium and a re-entry burning juggernaut rendering of Black Flag’s Nervous Breakdown. The album download also includes 2 bonus cuts, I Don’t Work That Way and their contribution to valis’ 2011 Summer Solstice, the regal King of Atlantis. Does it all hold together? You bet, and not just because of the scuzz and fuzz found in every corner.  There’s more glue to it than that and a willful amount of sugar in the tank, too. There’s a loose scope to Operation Sun Probe that seems natural and unforced…there’s room for the Colossal Atomic Man to carry on Iron Man’s fight without stepping on the toes or squelching the sweet siren call of Legeia or any of the other sun-baked and probed characters. Does it sound like it might not hold together? Only in all the right places. Their junkyard sculpture aesthetic may not appeal to everyone (it would be a crime if it did), but the ground they cover and how they deliver shows more focus and stretch than most without having to polish it up. There’s nothing wrong with a good hearty belch after a meal, and BWST have eaten well; punk, space, prog, heavy and hooky psych, pop…Operation Sun Probe, like Druid Time Lords, is absolutely endearing in its regurgitation. Don’t dab that errant morsel with fine linen, use an oily rag instead.

Raise Them Up :: Brian Wilson Shock Treatment :: Operation Sun Probe (2012, Starry Night Records)

BWST instigator Michael X Rose is also extending the cracks into film, funding Bloodlust of the Druid Overlords, “A Classic Horror movie featuring ritual human sacrifice, visions of the Virgin Mary, a giant burning Wickerman and Bloodthirsty Druids.”

We should expect nothing less.

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