Subzone
Paranoid Landscape
Badman
The title is dead on here. Starting out with a seven-minute drone buzz riff on snarling bass and electric drums, Subzone sets up the dark paranoid atmosphere immediately. Vocals slide in, darkly, during the second song… kind of reminding me of some nightmare acid jazz trip. Skinny Puppy jamming with the Golden Palominos. There’s definite darkness here, but definite groove as well, and you can’t get a better drive under the rhythm than that evil bass. It hits your heart like Halloween. Most of the bass lines played by main Subzone man Andrew Mullen, who sometimes ventures into an almost Cure-like groove, but deeper. Early moods more than music. Faith… you know. As a point of interest, to sound-o-holics out there, a few of these songs were produced, recorded, and slightly mixed, by that man about the sound, Helios Creed. If you don’t turn the lights out when you listen to this, you’ll find more enjoyment than paranoia… but there’s a fine bass line between the two.
Badman, 1388 Haight St., No. 211, San Francisco, CA 94117, http://www.badmanrecordingco.com
