Osees : SORCS 80

John Dwyer is a guy seemingly never at rest. His band Osees(or Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, The Oh Sees, The Ohsees, or OCS depending on which way the wind blows) are a revolving door of garage, noise, psych, electro rock and occasionally whiffs of prog and metal that never stays in just one lane(hence the 6 different versions of the band name.) The project started out in 1997 as a solo project for Dwyer, but it morphed into a real band with the current line-up of Dwyer, Tim Hellman, Dan Rincon, Paul Quattrone, and Tomas Dolas.

Since 2003 Dwyer’s ever-evolving band has released 29 albums. Those are King Gizzard and Robert Pollard numbers. Looking to jump in blind? I’d suggest the run in the late 2000s that starts with Warm Slime and ends with Floating Coffin. But if you want to be adventurous then give their newest album SORCS 80 a listen.

SORCS 80 plays like The Stooges and DEVO morphing into a robo-punk outfit, leaving the guitars at the studio door in lieu of synthesizers, saxophones, and samplers. The results are caffeinated beats, menacing synth riffs, and Dwyer screaming like a drill sergeant on the front line.

“Look At The Sky” is a mash up of punk rock blast beats, synth punk attitude, and Dwyer screaming full blast. It’s unabashedly in your face as Mr. Bungle and early 80s West Coast punk. “Pixelated Moon” sounds like The Cars and The Tubes attempting a New Wave collab that is pretty hard not to dig. “Termination Officer” is an absolute sonic assault on the frontal lobe. Somehow John Dwyer has made a synth riff sound just as menacing as a beat up Gibson running full blast into a Marshall stack.

Elsewhere “Drug City” has a real Stooges vibe. All Motor City punk rock abandon with a touch of horns for good measure. There’s also some serious grooves being laid down here on the funky “Also The Gorilla..” that is reminiscent of The Flaming Lips’ garage rock space epic Yoshimi. “Lear’s Ears” is slinky and groove-heavy with just the right amount menace under the surface. And songs like “Zipper”, “Plastic”, and “Cassius, Brutus & Judas” make the argument that wonky synthesizers are as punk rock as any ‘Anarchy’ tattoo.

Once again John Dwyer and Osees blow minds with SORCS 80, and with whatever is sitting around in the studio. This time it’s synths, samplers, and saxophones.