Crab Smasher - Impossible Monsters
CDR 3" from Squeamish Recordings (SQREC027)
Archived item from Monstera Deliciosa
Traditionally, Crab Smasher have been at their best attempting layers of spontaneous scrawl rather than chasing celebrity, but Impossible Monsters - their tenth release and the first since 2007's Doom+Doom=OMG!!! - somehow pulls off the trick of doing both, matching big hooks with forward-thinking production tricks. The poptimistic Crab Smasher fan will head straight for "The Moon Rattled Inside Her", a sassy falling-for-you number with a glammy beat and a chorus poised to fill a thousand Karaoke rooms, and "A Sad Day for Everybody", a thumping disco number with a lot of love to give. Scattered alongside these, however, are some slightly more adventurous productions that demonstrate that, despite a few months on-and-off the stage, Crab Smasher is still well up to speed with 21st Century pop: the excellent "Killing with Kindness" begins with the sound of a strummed harp before diffusing into a shimmering, Scandinavian-tinged electro-noise number, reminiscent of Wolf Eyes or Merzbow, all snapping, sassy beats and vocodered vocal. Meanwhile, the ghetto-pop bounce of "You Don't Need to Shout When the Sun Comes Out" proves raunch is still by no means beyond them. A very welcome return featuring special guest Saxophonic Skronkery by Handsome James Kritzler and artwork by Mighty Mike Foxall.
ltd. 300 copies
REVIEWS
Crab Smasher's music isn't as gleefully violent as their name might suggest. Based in Newcastle, the duo released two documents of their pop-inflected experimentalism last year: a Trapdoor Tapes cassette vividly entitled Doom+Doom=OMG! as well as this twenty minute EP. Despite its brevity, Impossible Monsters – their tenth release to date - manages to cram at least eight largely contrasting styles across twenty minutes, with a sense of wistfulness permeating most of the proceedings.Wistful, because despite Crab Smasher's noise-orientated means their music is ultimately approachable and illustrative. While it's common for bands of Crab Smasher's ilk to extend their abstractions over a longer period of time, to give ideas the opportunity to crystallize, these guys don't stuff around. The two opening tracks start the EP on harsh terrain – clinical white noise bursts puncture through barely-audible hum on 'I Am Error', while 'Killing With Kindness' wields scraps of noise in a more confrontational and less ominous way. Pleasantly enough, 'The Moon Rattled Inside Her' takes a complete left turn into bedroom pop cum science fiction soundtrack, while 'A Sad Day For Everybody' recalls Italian instrumentalists Larsen in the way the slowly paced rhythm breathes starkly and threateningly, mapping the ascendancy of noise and murk in the mix. Indeed, it's these colourful contrasts that make Impossible Monsters a compelling, if slightly puzzling listen. There doesn't appear to be any common thread running through these tracks, and often the brevity of the tracks can be frustrating. Still, Crab Smasher get it right most of the time because they have the audacity to do what isn't expected of them, and if that means sometimes they lose a bit of focus, that's a worthwhile compromise.by Shaun Prescott
http://www.messandnoise.com/releases/2000022
I'm afraid that whilst you can't deny that this is experimental, on its own it does not stand as music. It could very well be the score to a pressing scene in a film for instance (happening upon a gruesome scene of death springs to mind) but on its own, whilst art, I'm afraid I could not consider this anything more than an aural display, a show of works, rather than music itself. Two of five.
-SKULDUGGERY, user review mp3.com.au
One of this year's most pleasant surprises for me has been Crab Smasher's latest 3-inch release, Impossible Monsters, although 'pleasant' isn't a word I'd generally associate with Newcastle's noisiest duo. However, it was perhaps with good reason that Grant Hunter, the act's hack of many trades, described this as their 'top 40' release.
One of the few genuinely interesting acts around town, Crab Smasher usually specialise in the creation of improvised, often harsh, noise soundscapes with both traditional and non-traditional instrumentation. I've likened them previously to 'Black Dice on a lazy Sunday' but I'm not sure that really applies here. 'The Moon Rattled Inside Her' is the third track off Impossible Monsters and it's a driving, vaguely Kraut-rock, pop song. It's one of their more conventional songs, and it's all the better for it.
-Carl Dixon, http://noroundthecorner.blogspot.com/