Arab on Radar, from Providence (Rhode Island), comprises singer Eric “Post-Traumatic Stress” Paul, guitarists Steve “Type A” Mattos and Jeff “Clinical Depression” Schneider, and drummer Craig “Obsessive Compulsive” Kurek. On the early singles, Kangaroo (Heparin, 1997) and Swimming With a Hard-on (Load, 1998), they played an artsy brand of noise-rock that borrows evenly from new wave and beach-punk. Queen Hygiene II (Heparin, 1998 - 31G, 2003), their first album, continued on that war path with terrifying blasts of chaos. Rough Day at the Orifice (Pop Pop, 1999 - 31G, 2003) is a demented collage of feverish and feral sounds, vaguely approaching the state of music, somewhere along the twisted line that straddles Red Krayola, Pop Group, MARS, Pere Ubu, and Six Finger Satellite. Soak the Saddle (Skin Graft, 2000) is the music of very angry (and very spastic) youth: psychotic melodies, manic pace, abrasive guitars, punk-rock and Japanese-grade noise. Yahweh or the Highway (Skin Graft, 2001) is another very short album, like the previous ones, with only eight songs to document the band’s progress. It leaves the feeling that the kids are growing up, and that they are shunning the most obviously childish excesses of their early albums. Despite the intent, this remains a concentrate of wildly dissonant punk-rock, not exactly recommended to fans of the Beatles. The Stolen Singles (31G, 2003) collects rarities.| |
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