Putrifiers II

Though \"Wax Face\" opens *Putrifiers II* with the mind-melting ferocity that so intoxicated fans on past T.O.S. tunes, the album as a whole is a white-hot brew of everything the supreme psych-rockers do best. If one could distill their two 2011 releases into one edited, cohesive whole—or perhaps distill their entire vast catalog into such a thing—it would come awfully close to *Putrifiers II*. There are strings and woodwinds among other instrumental delights here; we love the droning cello and violins on the Velvets-ish \"So Nice.\" There are also mind-melters (\"Lupine Dominus\" snaps and growls with appropriately feral organs and guitar) and artfully sculpted bad-trip soundtrack music (\"Clouds #1\"). Plus, there are almost-breezy psych-pop tunes with summery strings (\"Goodnight Baby\"), as well as sweetly \'60s-style vocal harmonies and crisp, just-before-the-red production (\"Flood\'s New Light,\" \"Hang a Picture\"). Thee Oh Sees even toss in funhouse-mirror doo-wop (\"Will We Be Scared?\") and dew-kissed baroque pop (\"Wicked Pop\"). John Dwyer and his merry band continue evolving before our very eyes, and that is, literally, awesome.

With their reputation as one of America's most formidable live acts wholly assured, Thee Oh Sees explore the possibilities of the studio and more lustrous modes of psychedelia on Putrifiers II. It's a convenient gateway into the garage rock vets' dense discography.

For more than a decade, John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees catered to a specific niche: the fertile crescent where rowdy garage punk, classic ’60s pop, and hard-drugs psychedelia intersect. Those boundaries allowed Dwyer a lot of room to explore with some exciting results, most notably 2008’s The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth…

Garage rock is in the same dire straits as electro-pop, or any other genre that’s been lapped up by music writers over the…

The music here never has too clear of an antecedent, and the directions the album takes are generally unexpected.