Manpack Variant - "Sticky Wickets"

Manpack Variant - Flash Pumper (Digitalis 2007)

Manpack Variant - Sticky Wickets / Digitalis

Have you been missing the obnoxiousness of Wolf Eyes? Does the new direction Black Dice have taken boggle you because it's not, like, you know, noise? Are you afraid of songs that you can sing your grandmother? Then why are you listening to anything else but Manpack Variant?

Ordinarily intrigued by furious gusts of pure noise, Manpack Variant has been the only group to actually frighten me recently. I popped in Sticky Wickets like the idiot I am expecting to hear some low rumbles that would eventually morph into evil electronic flashes of aural fire. What I got instead was a sharp, grating sound as an introduction on "Flash Pumper." If only I'd known that was going to happen with "Matted Fur," I probably would've been a little more careful. My first reaction was that my computer had suddenly gone awry. It was a splendid introduction and me and Sticky Wickets have been friends ever since. What a wildly loud and harsh noise these two chaps have concocted.

Right, a little about them: Jaime Fennelly has also been involved in Peeesseye, Phantom Limb & Bison, and peeinmyfacewithsurgery (probably my favorite). Chris Peck is a little bit of an unknown, but both seem to have successfully captured the spirit of destroying eardrums on this five-tracker. With distorted bits of guitar, droning electronic sound bites and assorted other audio shrapnel, the globetrotters (who have played everywhere from Vienna to Vancouver and scared enough people to make a fansite) have pieced together their first album in four years. No worries, though. You won't confusing this MV for that other EE-associated entity.

Interestingly, "Flash Pumper" is a pretty accurate title for the effect it has on the album as a whole. Any kind of energy they might've jolted you awake with is dulled by the slow-burning (but ultimately more terrifying) "Matted Fur," obviously the album's highlight and centerpiece at a staggering 21 minutes, clocking in at nearly double the length of the next closest song, "AC Ferries." That track has kid-glove vocals and a woozy reverb reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, but you don't hear it until about six minutes in. Well worth the wait if you can stand to get there.

The manipulation of acoustic and electric guitar, harmonium, percussion, and vocals continues on through to the conclusion of the eight-minute high-pitched carnival nightmare that is "Heartstream." Though the tracks vary dramatically in length, the consistency of the noise terrorism presented makes Sticky Wickets a very cut-and-dry affair, indeed. This doesn't come recommended for everyone, but if you were brave enough to try Burned Mind in '04, there's no reason you shouldn't be vying for this immediately. Sit forward, do not relax, and enjoy the wreckage your speakers are about to suffer through. The laughing and clapping at the end of "Flash Pumper" sums this sadism up nicely.