Diminished Men

If current instrumental music was always as majestic and compelling as this, I'd hang up my Retro-Italian Soundtrack collector's boots for good. From the explosive drums rolls on the opening track, the only cover on the record, "L'appel du Vere", from Roman Polanski's "The Tenant" (music by Philippe Sarde), to the darkly exotic finale, "A Housewife's Dram", this album is a superbly crafted mosaic of whip cracking vengeance, speakeasy hallucinations and haunted geography. Besides the Italian-Western overtones, the carnival-esque freakshow backdrops, Korshid-Egyptian guitar passages, and flipped out electronic space-psych, are perhaps the best surf-inspired tracks I've heard in years. It's spine chilling how producer Randall Dunn (SUNNO)), Earth, Eyvind Kang, Sun City Girls, Secret Chiefs 3, Six Organs of Admittance, Wayne Horvitz, Matt Chamberlain, Grails, Wolves in The Throne Room etc.) managed to make this record the ultimate mid 60's Surf-Vampire-Western revival soundtrack. Elements of Joe Meek's best Moontrekkers productions cross with a dash of Badalamenti murder blues-drama, setting the stage for Steve Schmitt's cobra-twilight guitar work and the outlaw drums of Dave Abramson to leave their indelible stains across this 41-minute epic journey. (Alan Bishop)
This LP is a limited edition of 500 copies and comes pressed on 180 gram vinyl.

DIMINISHED MEN:

• Steve Schmitt - guitars
• Dave Abramson - drums/percussion
• Matt Rosoff - bass
• Sam Wambach- saxophones

With:

• Steve Moore (Earth) - Farfisa Combo, Mellotron, synthesizers, trombone
• Randall Dunn - analog synthesizers

Producer: RANDALL DUNN