January 7, 2003

These fucked-up dudes Big Techno Werewolves play straight blues music, with an undercurrent of homespun noise charging around making everything sound like Howlin' Wolf jamming with Jerry on Anthem of the Sun. At times Feel It is the stupidest music ever made, a true continuation of the moronic flailings of Contact High with the Godz. The unintelligible mewling of King Riff (Eric Bauer) is the sound you hear coming from a pissy alley on a rainy night – it's pathetic urban poetry.

The only time I've ever seen Big Techno Werewolves was at the Peacock Lounge in the Lower Haight, and they were good. They are better than almost anybody who ever picked up a guitar, except for Bruce Springsteen because that guy writes songs we can all relate to.

The second half of the full-length CD is Hans Grüsel's Kränkenkabinet, a jaunty, brightly lit entry into the powerful electro-noise genre. The ineptitude that makes the BTW so great is missing, but Hans Grüsel's extended carnival pieces make for surprisingly pleasant, hyperactive joke's-on-you listening, with a couple sections that are flat-out fun. Big Techno Werewolves and Hans Grüsel's Kränkenkabinet play Jan. 21, Hemlock Tavern, S.F. (415) 923-0923. (Mike McGuirk)

The Sheath
The Sheath (Incomplet)

This turned up on my coffee table the other morning, after my roommate brought a bunch of strangers over the night before. It was sitting there amid empties, the remnants of a bag of potato chips, and this giant, mysterious stain on the couch. A scary, smelly stain had soaked all the way through the cushion, with dark fingers dripping down to the very edge of the couch, like a bloodstain only not blood. Maybe it was vomit, maybe pee, or maybe just pee-flavored vodka, I don't know. Very disturbing.

The thing is, the cover of The Sheath CD is this cheerful cartoon of a naked girl with protruding nipples and no vagina crouching over a box, as if getting ready to take a whiz. Did whoever couldn't hold it leave this behind, as a calling card? Are the guys in the Sheath serial couch-pissers?