Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sometime Sweet Susan - Fuse (1993) & Point ep (1994)

Whomever has tried to kill-off the memory of Milwaukee's Sometime Sweet Susan over the last decade-and-a-half has done a pretty damn good job. In fact, a Google search predominantly pulls up links for dozens of references to a psychotic, hardcore-skin flick from the late '60s that the band usurped their moniker from. I suppose I can rationalize the trio's lack of web presence by virtue of them burning out just before the WWW truly became ubiquitous, but anyway...

Taking their barbed cues from legends like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and to a far lesser extent Smashing Pumpkins, Sometime Sweet Susan manicured a scalding amount of dissonance and unruly guitar feedback into something relatively listenable. This isn't to say their debut, Fuse is an unremitting hook-fest. Hardly in fact, but bubbling up from all the noise is the tuneful charge of "Blanket Kiss," which I like to regard as quintessential, indie-rawk gold. For the album's unlikely finale, SSS obliterates Madonna’s “Justify My Love” into an all out shronk-fest, retaining the lyrics and precious little else.

The melody quotient is raised a few notches higher on the even more consistent follow-up ep, Point, that is if you subtract about 15 minutes from the clamorous, meandering "Cecille B. Dumbshit," which in itself totals the better part of a half-hour. The four much briefer cuts that sandwich it are worthy of your respect, particularly if the aforementioned Fuse left any positive impression on your frazzled eardrums.

Sometime... called it a day after their second full-length, The Coming Lights in '95. More recently, singer/guitarist Jim Warchol delved into this curious musical project. 
 
Fuse
01. Piss Take
02. Blanket Kiss
03. 20,000 Volt Monster
04. Installer
05. Beam
06. Crush
07. Hacker Vibe
08. Justify My Love 
 
Point ep
01. Kendall
02. Pathological Liar
03. Tannery
04. Cecille B. Dumbshit
05. Point 
 
Fuse: Hear
Point: Hear

5 comments:

Melon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Punkmikil said...

I can't find their tunes anywhere, can you send them to me? The links are down.
Lemme know at- Punkmikil@aol.com

Thanks

Stathis said...

Hello,
Happy New Year
Can you please repost these LP & EP?
Thank you very much
Stathis

Into The Music said...

Yeah, reup please :)

He said...

You can re upload the EP Point please? Thank you so much