Cave are a dual drummer led modern psyche outfit from Chicago. They take single riffs and hammer them into a sort of kraut flecked hypnorock with all sorts of strange twists and turns, bizarre arrangements, baffling breakdowns resulting in unique & amazing jams.

'Butthash' explores a damaged and delirious path - like garage rock raised on Magma and Neu/Faust. The guitars crunchy and thick, occasionally opening up into wailing psychrock blowouts, the drums distorted but grooving. Like an amphetamine fueled Circle via the basement, the sound a sweat soaked instrumental groove.

Flip over for 'Machines & Muscles', a more lush & epic approach, like a neanderthal krautrock. Reminiscent of Peng-era Stereolab this builds & builds with awesome grinding space rock riffage via warbly synth & flurries of percussive splatter. Entrancing, a heaving, pulsing, throbbing mass, the sound magnetic and irresistible.

The additional multimedia CD features the two 7" tracks along with two other equally rocking tracks and an exclusive and amazing video for Butthash.

Limited edition package of numbered green vinyl 7" and CD. In full colour wraparound picture sleeve.

Sept 2008, TR011.

Butthash
Machines & Muscles

Support :

Avant/Post-Rock Single of the week - Piccadilly

These cats cook up a slyly funk and gridlocked brew of mind warping woozy krautrock that to these ears comes across like some mid galactic highway service station stop situated between the orbital aural zones of Mugstar, Circle and Fly (the latter being especially referenced on the grittily terra-forming throb of the head wiring cosmic jazz jam ‘machines and muscles’ with its sumptuous drill of smoked 60’s styled lounge dialects).
’Butthash’ is a coolly grooved slab of hypnotic flashbacks from an early 70’s scene populated by Tangerine Dream and Amon Duul II, spliced with head swirling repetitive loops that at times come across like a strangely skewiff Devo doing Kraut. Better still is the ’tour version’ of ‘machines and muscles’ - a space gliding star glazed cruise controlled lunatic instrumental replete with swirling BBC Radiophonic meets early career Add N to X analogue electronics that subtly take their cue from the Tornadoes ‘telstar’ - think upon it as a huge hulking ice cream van like fairground Waltzer hurtling through space like a kaleidoscopic spinning top. Nuff said. Best of the set in our book is the parting ‘high, I am’ - even despite the fact that its more an afterthought being only 80 seconds long it does in its brief firefly like lifespan offer up a furious and schizoid slice of mind expanding psychotropic goo to which to pack you happily off in search of further Cave vinyl explorations. More please and quick about it.
Losing Today


On one of our favourite labels (Trensmat) returns with a couple of new singles, Cheval Sombre and Cave. And it's the Cave release that narrowly takes the ROTW with its dreamy hypnotic avant-kraut rhythms, superb stuff!
Piccadilly


For this ep, the band launch into action with the weird protofunk of "Butthash", a bouncy groover, with swirly synths, caffeinated rhythms, and buried vocals, a bit angular, a little new wave, equal parts krautrock, and spaced out shimmer, but all tangled up and kaleidoscopic, which leads directly into "Machines & Muscles" with its Circle-like guitar groove, some hand drums, very tribal and looped sounding, suspended in a field of space streakings and smears of soft effects in the background, the drums get a little more obtuse, a bit busier, but that main riff stays LOCKED in, until it begins to get ALL tripped out, distorted, effects drenched, swinging from speaker to speaker, dizzyingly tripped out, and then finally, the drums kick in proper, and we're in total hynorock bliss, little bits of keyboard pepper, the stuttery rhythm, the main riff staying solid and unwavering, while all around it various other sounds swoop and shimmer. Fucking awesome. Live they must stretch that out for ages, at least we hope so, in fact we sort of wish that this wasn't only a 7".
Thankfully, it's NOT only a 7", as it comes with a cd-r, that includes the two tracks from the 7", and also an awesome even more blissed out version of "Machines & Muscles", the keyboards much more prominent, the vibe much more electronic and new wave, almost like Circle meets Stereolab, with plenty of buzz and glitch, lacing the propulsive groove. As well, there's a brief 85 second closer, that sounds like it was yanked from the middle of an hours-long live drug jam, with tripped out keyboards, buzzing bass, looped drums. Such a tease to only give us a 85 seconds!
And as if that weren't enough, the cd-r also includes a super abstract prismatic video / light show, to accompany, Cave's relentless space-y groove, all rainbowed blur and staticky colors, swirling and shimmery and a perfect visual complement.
Aquarius Records


Import-only single from Midwestern exports CAVE, enamored as they are of the spaceways and the motorik vehicles that move upon them. Following up a very solid LP, here’s a little more of the same, with an excellent two-chord Hawkwind style buildup on “Butthash” and a warm, excitable Autobahn activity on “Machines and Muscles.” CDR includes both sides of the single, plus two bonus tracks. A good band getting better; here’s hoping they find a musical approach that can rival their Krautrock competence, making something totally new in the process.
Dusted Magazine


Chicago outfit with a sound even more motor-driven than Wooden Shjips. More minimal than that too. Reminds me at times of what I imagined Marty Rev's solo records would feel like. Not to infer its solo or anything, but you get the idea.
The Wire


Leaving release eleven in the capable hands of Chicago-based Cave, they pay their respects to the cream of Krautrock with metronomic precision and a raw production edge that has all the hypnotic sonics one would expect from a double drummer-fronted band. Tasty.
DJ Mag