Boxing the Clown＜限定盤/Blue Vinyl＞

Another year and another backing band for Creed; in this case it includes the great drummer Rey Washam, known for his work in the Jesus Lizard and on various other projects. With old bassist Duran back in the fold as well, Creed unleashed another modern psychedelic nightmare/masterpiece with the short but not-a-note-wasted Boxing the Clown. Opening track "Master Blaster" is another Creed highlight, with Washam's work the best, most frazzled accompaniment for the usual electric mayhem he whips up yet. Creed himself drops some massive riffs and mind-melting feedback, and his aggressive double-tracked bark/whine/moan is just plain gone. From there it's another plunge into the weird and wired world of Creed, with Washam's drumming and co-production abilities really helping out. The steady pound of "Sister Sarah" shows them at their best together, Washam's big wallop and Creed's usual fine work on singing and guitars both taking things to another dimension nicely enough. Creed is credited with also using a sampler this time out, and while there's not much to immediately indicate its presence or lack thereof in terms of overall sound, there's definitely the hint of him playing around more with spoken/sung elements, loops, and the like. Otherwise, the same generally compressed, intentionally artificial and very intentionally strange approach of the past is here, if given a new crackling buzz throughout. Vocals on a number of cuts are among some of the least prominent they've ever been in or out of Chrome, echoing up through the layers of noise that Creed has so thoroughly made his own. As always, there's a little surprise or two: "Go Blind," for instance, has a weird stop-start part to it that along with its relatively straightforward presentation could be the MC5 with a little more guitar wiggery. ~ Ned Raggett