Review: Deceased Squirrel On The Phone - Strawberry Cough

I'm not sure where to begin with this one! I know very little about the band - the email they sent was scant on info and the Bandcamp page just tells us that there are two members (Bubu - drums & Tomas - guitar/voice) and the band's slightly disturbing webpage states "Performance duo produces weird music". What I do know, however, is that 'Strawberry Cough' is gloriously deranged and actually very good! It has been brought to us by Stoned To Death Records.

First track, 'Who Keeps Putting Here The Cake Spatula' (???) opens with some pretty cool & rough blues/punk guitar a la Bob Log before some tribal drums join in. The track as a whole comes over like The White Stripes' long lost Czech cousins who have been hitting the hooch a little too hard. Rough, scuzzy and damned enjoyable. 'I Stepped Over The Root' forsakes the scuzz for a more proto-punk attack but there is still an innate roughness which is refreshing. 'Yoga Inside Nut' adopts a sharper post-punk style, all angular guitar and pummelling drums while the 'blink and you'll miss it' hit of 'Letters Call' is like the Severed Heads gatecrashing a Butthole Surfers party...a short but devastating rush of noise and mayhem. 'Dead Holidays Heal Slowly' (no, me neither!) is another short one but this time the sound of a warped and mutated vocal lays over an eerie synth line that is more than vaguely unsettling. The title track 'Strawberry Cough' sees 'normal' service resumed - another thumping slice of garage psych guitar accompanied by some very Devo like vocals...I can see this track becoming a mainstay of mixes for months to come. It manages to be nostalgic but with enough about it to keep it contemporary. 'I Stopped Smoking In The Mirror' has some lovely hauntological flourishes among the mellifluous guitar and distorted effects....as marvellously trippy as the title would suggest. 'Orgonsong' is pure noise rock...the same sharp stabs of guitar that made Big Black such a force and vocals straight from the eighties Amphetamine Reptile roster ...excellent stuff. This surprising album is brought to a close by 'Zen Beach', a belter of a track with hi-octane guitar, more tribal drums and punk attitude.

'Strawberry Cough' is a cracking album....very lo-fi but that's no bad thing, indeed it is that that gives the album a charm all of its own. Stylistically it drags and drops aspects of everything; punk, garage, psych, noise...but overall it has the same dadaist feel of some of Cabaret Voltaire's early material...and I freakin' love Cabaret Voltaire. All in all 'Strawberry Cough' is a damn fine album, it probably won't win any 'Album Of The Year' awards but that's kinda the point I think. Lo-fi, definitely eccentric and a rollicking good listen. It is available as a download and a tape available from the Stoned To Death Bandcamp page here.