"Third record, following a pair of amazing 12” near-LPs, by this Columbus howitzer. On their debut, Flash Fuck (A Wicked Company, 2013), they were a trio, but they subsequently dropped a guitarist. By the time they cut Vernacular Splatter (Superdreamer, 2015), they has found their true shape as a duo. With Aurelie on drums and vox, and Chris Corbin on guitar, they had pared their shit down to a tight-packed near-perfect two-person howl. For Possession Sessions they have retained that format, although legendary producer Mike Rep, can’t keep from making his guitar a deep deep part of the mix. And by hooking their braying sonic mule to Rep’s stark, chopped production aesthetics, Sex Tide’ve created a sound that is naught but balling.
All the shards that were present in their work earlier — Gibson Bros., Cramps, Dead Moon, Pussy Galore, Churchmice, etc. — have been compacted into a rough spew of concrete garbage rock that will have your ass spinning in its own special grave. Only quibble is that I’m not sure how much I’ve managed to wallow in the specifics of each song yet, since the whole thing flows wobbling and seamless, like a lost record by a band you wished had existed.
Grubbiness of this particular style always initially seems like it should be roll-off-a-log easy. The chords are so basic, the thumping so primitive, the voices so devoted to unknown tongues, you’d imagine any monkey could do something similar. But man, it ain’t easy. You can listen to a couple hundred records in this vein and maybe they’ll all sound pretty good (’cause the style is so perfectly suited to R&R barbarians), but it’s rare to hear anyone do it as well as this. Sex Tide’s first couple of records are dazzlers, but this one goes way beyond that. And I’m betting it will stand up as an unparalleled booze party soundtrack for many years to come.
So buy two. You’re definitely gonna fuck up your first copy. "
-Byron Coley, 2017
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supported by 10 fans who also own “Great Black Swamp”
Opener absolutely rips. Falls into the ranks of tracks like “Dance” by ESG, “Eisbaer” by Grauzone, “Damaged Goods” by Gang of Four or like the album description says Kleenex. This is some really good stuff. Favorite song is the opener but dedicate “Blue” to my friend Blue who lost her life at 22, she would have loved this album. TheBloodofChrist
supported by 8 fans who also own “Great Black Swamp”
Someone once asked: “I wonder how far out we can take this rock n’ roll thing? How close can guitars bring us to God?”
High Rise answers that question here, on their masterpiece Adam Lehrer/Safety Propganda
Dark and seething post-punk from Cincinnati that's appealingly janky enough to make a tired genre feel fresh and urgent. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 31, 2023
supported by 7 fans who also own “Great Black Swamp”
"No Island" sort of springs out of nowhere, and fills that void with a full and vibrant whole that is much more than the sum of its parts, it sublimates at least thirty years of alternative rock and blends noise-rock, ambient, drone, dream-pop, garage-rock, psychedelia, deforms previous languages and creates a new one capable of telling a new world.
paolo latini