Thee Oh Sees - Block Of Ice

By Kalen Lao
from beatroute.ca

Earlier this year, Thee Oh Sees delivered "The Masters Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In" and it was the album that John Dwyer fans have been craving all along: the song craft of The O.C.s/The Oh Sees/Thee Oh Sees with the visceral garage rock pummel of Dwyers former band The Coachwhips.

Their new live DVD/CD release, Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion, is a return to their pre-Bedroom sound minimal, sparse pop with barely a trace of Bedrooms feedback-laced rock. The good news is Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion is as good as Bedroom, if not better. Recorded last year around the time that the pre-Bedroom album Sucks Blood was also recorded, Hounds is mainly about the DVD (the CD serves as the companion soundtrack). This is not just any live DVD. Thee Oh Sees recorded Hounds around various locales in San Francisco - the side of a highway, a harbour, a forested area and more. It is all beautiful scenery indeed, without a conventional stage and audience to be seen or heard. In between songs, Dwyer & Co. share some generally entertaining tour stories.

What about the music? With consistent production that a live recording provides and excellent song selection, the strength of Dwyers songs comes through like no other Oh Sees album before (excluding Bedroom). While Bedroom mildly suffers from a halfway slump, Hounds offers full consistency. From beginning to end, it offers a showcase of Dwyers song writing talent without a single clunker among the bunch. Bedroom fans may be interested in the stripped-down versions of Block of Ice and Ghost in the Trees which are as effective as the originals.

The night to Bedrooms hot summer day, Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion, while being different from the former, further ups the ante and boosts expectations for anything Thee Oh Sees may put out next. Its an unexpected surprise and one of the years best yet again.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• coachwhips
• ohsees
• dwyer
• yikes

[destroyourselves]

@shankvale i like how you make false accusations towards me... a junkie? look you fucking troll - you accomplish nothing by being negative. if you don't like the band fine.. that isn't the issue here. you are like those fucking pitchfork or nme album reviewers... please, spare us. you have an opinion. that doesn't make you cool nor does it make you entitled to be a smug little prick. period.

[LilRedRasta]

@analogrevolutionary look up sleepy sun, black mountain, tame impala, crystal stilts, ty segall, deerhunter, wolf people, the strange boys, ubyk, and conan mockasin. good bands kind of like this. that retro sound.

[ChessemillX]

kind of sounds like the Monks..

[UTFRG]

Way slower tempo than the album almost different song

[SteeThreePO]

Fighting over such a miniscule thing such as youtube comments is not what this music is about

[MotleygnrCrue]

If my life is ever made into a movie, I want this song to the opening credits.

[VersusTheAir]

The Mission.

[WardyBoy91]

Damn missed the video cause I was busy reading the "Tales of the Mega Troll" that this comment section has provided...

O well, *Replays*

[DarlingBeTrue]

this and ty segall.. my god these people are my life

[SleepyDisso]

wack

[polishbroadcast]

I love when Thee Oh Sees take their time. Love this track.