These Glaswegian noisenicks may have been knocking around for a few years now, but despite some hard gigging and a guitarist who doubles as the touring bassist for fellow Glaswegians The Twilight Sad – of whom I'm an immense fan – they've not really broken through. On the strength of this, their third album the chances are, they still won't. Shame, because it's sodding brilliant.
It's noisy, it's chaotic and it's off the wall. Jerky, distorted guitars dominate, but they're matched by super-sludgy bass tones and countered by complex lead lines and countermelodies. They call it pattercore. There's a logic to that, in that the hectic collision of differing styles – none of which are readily identifiable in their own right – melt and blur together to create a sound that is truly unique, and rendered all the more distinctive by Joe Quimby's vocals. Yes, he largely barks and yells, but does so in an accent so broad your can smell the Tennents on his breath.
It's a dizzying cacophony and all of the ten tracks sit at around the two-minute mark, packing in more ideas – and clashing yet strangely complimentary guitar lines – to each song than you'll usually find on an entire album. Take, for example, 'Kuato', that lurches and leaps hither and thither, get features the most strikingly contrasting and brilliantly-conceived synth-driven breakdown by way of a mid-section I've heard in a long time.
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What's more, it's all delivered with a wildness that spills into aggression that's eye-poppingly attention-grabbing – not to mention a remarkable degree of musicianship that's likely to go largely unnoticed beneath the crazed energy and general racket that dominates this eclectic yet overarchingly noisy set that bridges the vertiginous chasm between math-rock with the kind of jarring racket cranked out by The Jesus Lizard with aplomb.
In 'TAWFAWW', Scotland's answer to Mr Bungle, have produced a work of warped genius that's dizzying, dazzling and deranged – and completely essential.
Take a Worm for a Walk Week on MySpace
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