TLR 141: sunburned hand of the man headdress (20th anniversary remaster) LP (with bandcamp coupon), digital.
released october 28, 2022. gatefold 160g LP (black vinyl) - $25. gatefold 160g LP (limited "luxury" purple vinyl) - $26. digital via bandcamp (as well as t-shirts and enamel pins).
i'll set the scene - we're all passed out face-down in the lawn of the first bush term, scratching our heads after 9/11 and wondering how much more dystopian it's about to get. ash hangs in the air as we march toward endless war, and the activities of the post-hippie, post-beat, post-punk, post-jazz, post-industrial, post-experimental bohemian underground flail against the avalanche with a mystic fire you can't get your arms around, let alone bottle up for consumption. jars of tears, rockets from another world. sunburned hand of the man was a part of all that.
sunburned appeared from time to time (occasionally at my invitation) in western massachusetts, a mongrel mob from beantown, inscrutable in the extreme, their music governed by an internal logic, or by no logic, a bearded octopus with spider legs on stilts moonwalking with a limp. i'd see a set, then listen to a recording of it and swear that it was not the music i had witnessed earlier. as far as i can figure, the music actually had a mind of its own. and yet, in a shockingly conflicting truth, i knew in my heart that the music hadn't changed - i had. these early encounters left me wondering why exactly these people were making this music, and very glad that they were.
they were driven by drums, bass, and guitars, and were obviously in love with groovy riffs, but to call them a rock band seemed even stupider than calling them a jam band. there were hand drums, shruti boxes, and plenty of moaning, but they were far from a hemp-bracelet-clad circle of evolutionary regressives spouting peace and love bullshit. there were weird electronics and some odd costumes once in a while, but it wasn't anything resembling conceptual theater made for tight-assed, chin-stroking academic prudes. they chewed through every leash imaginable, and went bolting off into the wilds of a confounding and glorious wilderness.
headdress was the group's first proper vinyl release and, appropriately, clarified absolutely nothing. now it's back, nearly old enough to walk into a bar and get toasted on cheap piss, ready to confront and confuse and enrapture and enlighten all over again.
like sunburned itself, you catch headdress already in process. the needle hits the groove and it roars in out of nowhere, an affirmative "OH YEAH" heralding its arrival. the tracks bleed into one another, and the stylistic shifts in the edits can be sudden, but there's a magic in the editing that mirrors the magic of seeing a live set. it coheres and evaporates at its own pace. elements emerge, converge, diverge, divulge, and obscure. a riff might erupt, daring the rest of the swarm to hang on it, to join it, or to swirl it. the vocals are summoned sermons, by turns muffled and clear.
the iteration of the band we get here is true old school sunburned. over the years an audacious rogue's gallery of maniacs has passed through the ranks, and it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that at one time there was a relatively tight-knit gallery of maniacs fusing together and forging the group's sound and spirit. most notable among this crew is the recently-departed marc orleans, to whom this reissue is dedicated. his bombastically loud, searing guitar leads were a defining feature of this era, and this record presents startling examples of the profound, crazed ecstasy he was capable of conjuring.
this reissue offers a snapshot in time, neon time, mylar time, slipping time, dripping time, stepping hither and yon, feet growing and vanishing like time with each well-timed step. freedom isn't real, but it's everywhere, and we're fools if we don't try to grasp it during the cosmic windows when it makes itself briefly available.
now everybody-
-matt krefting, 2022-
this 20th anniversary edition of headdress was remastered from the original source in 2022 by carl saff. it will be pressed to 160 gram 12" vinyl in chicago by smashed plastic (primarily on black vinyl, limited "luxury" purple vinyl and with a small portion for 2022 TLR subscribers on "clarity" clear vinyl) and housed within a full color gatefold jacket recreated from all of the original issue's original artwork sources and augmented by archival photographs.
to order headdress on black 160g vinyl, please toggle to your delivery address for a total inclusive of shipping (NOTE FOR UK AND EU PURCHASERS - please only direct your orders for this LP to the TLR bandcamp site)
to order headdress on "luxury" purple 160g vinyl, please toggle to your delivery address for a total inclusive of shipping (NOTE FOR UK AND EU PURCHASERS - please only direct your orders for this LP to the TLR bandcamp site)
iä! shub-niggurath!