As per the City Yelps write-up below, it is difficult to come up with anything new to say about Blown Out at this juncture, given that they seem determined to stick to a schedule of releasing a new LP every six months, all of them basically interchangeable, but each slightly more awesome than the last.

For my money, they’d already pretty much perfected their style back on ‘Jet Black Hallucinations’ in early 2015, but still the jams keep coming, as endless as the expanse of deep space en route to some nameless planet of space-rock dreams, with each release further tweaking the engine; John-Michael Hedley & Matt Baty’s liquid / telepathic rhythm playing becomes slightly more insistent and hypnotic each go round, as Mike Vest’s delay slathered guitar textures in turn become more detailed, more abstract, more exultantly otherworldly.

‘Celestial Sphere’ (a download-only release initially offered on-line to raise money for the band’s European tour) offers a slight dip in fidelity, as befits its practice-room origins, but the playing is superb, as the primacy of the bass is temporarily pushed back in the mix, giving greater emphasis to the gossamer web of Vest’s overlapping decaying notes and endless fried solos, particularly when – as now seems de rigour for Blown Out sets – things crash out into swirling chaos towards the end.

As signalled by the title and Anthony Downie’s magnificent artwork however, ‘New Cruiser’ sees the afterburners roaring on full-power once more for what at the time of writing stands as the supreme expression of Blown Out’s single-minded M.O. If you’ve listened to any of their other records mentioned above, well, suffice to say, this is more of it, sounding bigger, gutsier and more confident than ever, with Hedley’s bass back to the fore, even as the groove slows down to malevolent crawl on second side; engine burn-out dissolving into an ugly maelstrom of neck-scraping noise. Never mind that though. Just ease back in the big chair in the control room, light up a company-issue relaxation stick, drop the needle on side # 1, watch the stars roll by… and what more is there to say, really?

Back on earth meanwhile, I’m already dreading the moment when I’ll have to think up something new to write about Blown Out after they drop their next, and no doubt even better, LP. (That’ll be ‘Superior Venus’ then, out at the end of March.)

Downloads of both of these releases are available direct from bandcamp; the vinyl run of 'New Cruisers' via Riot Season appears to be sold out.

Labels: best of 2016, Blown Out