Latino Bugger Veil presents the long-awaited reissues of Butthole Surfers’ first four full-length albums.
Originally released between 1984 and 1988, these classic and influential LPs capture the band at their peak, drawing from punk, rock, psychedelic and experimental influences for a truly inspired and unmistakably unique sound.
With Rembrandt Pussyhorse the Butthole Surfers didn't really get any weirder than they were on Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac. They just became more entrenched in their own sonic world. Rembrandt is demented, for sure, but where it excels is in the realm of experimental technique, playing with tapes, overlaying disembodied voices and new instrumental combinations atop an increasingly warped rhythmic soundscape, and singing intentionally freaky songs in a very freaky way.
Throughout Rembrandt, the band is enmeshed in dense or droning (or both) areas where the rants are unbuckled and Gibby Haynes's voice is unleashed in its characteristically manic, slow wail. With the Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis EP appended on the CD, this episode in the Buttholes' 1980s postpunk menagerie is fleshy and fully important.
Andrew Bartlett
