ALBUM OF LAST WEEK

Khanate ' Clean Hands Go Foul' LP 2008, Hydra Head Records

So after years of smashing the shit out of everything, Khanate broke up in 2006. They ruled and they were very different from bands that were around when they were, and they really came correct with the dark plague of sounds that defined them as the unpredictable doom supergroup that they were. These dudes for real are the lords of creepy sound [I reviewed them last year with their self-titled LP] and without question they really came through on this one with some different shit. The whole thing is that a bit before they split in 2006, they recorded this record. I feel like it deafens whatever anticipation has surrounded it an appropriate way. It is cool 'lost record,' it wraps up their chronology in a way that adds to their story. This album goes lots of places and completely satisfies Khatates whole aesthetic- it is frustrated, it is tense, and it is wicked, but this time what it does not do is rip. It does not melt your head off and flood your apartment with black ooze or whatever like their previous records. Instead the anti-climatic way that the four songs on here toss and turn through their restless, ambient creepy shadow sounds leave me with a tired and confused aftertaste, which I can appreciate. Because they totally wrecked through the records that came out while they were still a band and thus created the whole allure of their whole experience and shit, this new joint spurred a quality dialogue at home base during the listening ceremony that raised some interesting points about these dudes. With their past efforts in mind, they could only go a few places with this record. They could either sort of relive some sound they pulled off before or they could put out some stuff that was confrontational in a different way- one that killed the hype for good. The noise side of them, no huge riffs, barely a beat. They were like a phantom band anyways so I accept and enjoy this album as the strange finale that it is..They put out the scary in a new way record that they wanted to and that is respectable from a band that already had quite a bit of respect. Plus, many of the lost records of a band you already knew ruled is rad and it is even more rad when they surprise you a bit with all that. If you only heard this then you probably wouldn't get into Khanate. I bet that it will be received with critical reviews but I feel it to be an Interesting end to an interesting band. And for that reason it is worthwhile and repels everything. Oh and read a quote that Julian Cope offered about this joint, pretty cool. First pressing available now from Hydra Head, lots of colors and it is very thick.

My bad on the delay- I was doing some hometown/swampland binge celebrating and dumb ass Comcast took their time hooking my shit back up when I returned. Anyways ain't no list this week-listen to yo records sawty