Slug - Messerschmidt
Slug - "Messerschmidt" from the album Swingers (Magnatone Products/Piece Of Mind, 1992) "Part rock band, part art ensemble, Slug occupied a peculiar position in the noise rock milieu, especially given their residence in Los Angeles, CA, by no means the hot bed of noisy music like Chicago, Minneapolis, or New York. What also characterized Slug as a music anomaly was their use of three bass guitars, sometimes to good effect, sometimes to the expense of a more defined sound. Swingers, a collection of singles and EPs, was Slug's first CD release. It's a dense listen, a bit amateurish, a bit unnecessarily arty -- much like a lot of the mid-'80s avant material released by SST Records, but Swingers has its charm. However, it's a peculiar charm, and possibly one only fathomable by fans of the more inscrutable, edgy material issued by Einsturzende Neubauten, the Birthday Party, or other acts associated with the Berlin noise scene. Though Slug often shared stages with bands like Unsane, theirs was a more ensemble form of percussive noise rock: less aggressive and deliberately peculiar. The next two releases -- actual albums -- would prove more cohesive, even if no less experimental." ~ Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide
