The Second Family Band - The Eternal Lag (Earjerk CS)

Hot off the presses at Foxy Digitalis:

Spawned from the same night of recordings as Housecraft’s recent “Our Way is the Right Way” cassette, this tape sees Wisconsin’s most zonked out inhabitants at it again, incorporating hand drums, synth meanderings and tape hiss galore into their own unique concoction of fritzed prog.

Consisting of whoever shows up, Second Family Band rallied the efforts of Iam Lee Ian, Clay Ruby, T. Endless, Dan Woodman, Nico Kain and perhaps more in this particular sonic digression, slowing down to a near catatonic crunch that elucidates all that is mysterious about the unit without revealing a damn thing. Provided within is a slow burner of a jam whose epic synth and odd shimmering pursuits are so steeped in lo-fi crud that it all comes out more like some mashed electronic glitch whose progression is decided less by who’s playing then by what internal wirings are working at any given moment.

Which isn’t to say that there isn’t a marvel to be found here. When the hand drums come in, the effect is so deliberate and sluggish that it pushes the entire work straight into the sort of psychedelic goop that few are willing to tread through without their wellies. The Family Band’s willingness to get in there sans shoes--even wriggling their toes a bit for good measure--is impressive enough, but their fastidious adherence to the sound is what ultimately makes it so effective. As damaged as these two sides are, there is a certain flow to it all, even if that flow is pushed through three-foot walls of sawdust before reaching the recorder.

Yet it is also these qualities that give the group its unique sound, which at any given moment walks the fine lines between total desolation and krautrock heaven. That these lines didn’t seem to exist before this band only speaks to the originality and, dare I say, chemical consumption of the unit.