Sylvester Anfang II – s/t – Aurora Borealis Records [Album As Art #91]

The build-up to Sylvester Anfang II – from the band of the same name, formerly just Sylvester Anfang — has been ridiculous. I saw it in a record store about 6 months ago and became obsessed with obtaining it once it absconded from said record store upon my next trip.

Now that I have it in my hands I must admit, the art is better than I imagined, a cross between Earthless‘ album covers, Cypress Hill‘s Temple of Boom and some cutting-room-floor scene from Wonderwall. In other words, it’s brilliant.

The music? Some thoughts:

• Without the additional effects that flap in the breeze like clothes hanging on a line during a storm, S. Anfang are relying on a lot of Guru Guru-/Amon Duul II-style repetitive bass lines; not a deal-breaker, but once you notice it you won’t be able to ignore it;
• Flanging, pitch-shifting, looping, lazer-pointing/shooting, phasing, wah-wah-ing, megaphone-ing, overdriving — it’s all going down here folks, often simultaneously;
• The vocals, fed through an echobox and a few miles of tubing, are a huge plus; they’re one of the “additional effects” mentioned above that separates this music from the herd;
• Of all their influences, Sylvester Anfang II fall back most on Ghost and Acid Mothers Temple;
• When the percussion doubles up it sounds like there’s a ghostly hand drummer in the room — this freaks me out;
• You couldn’t ask for better production, clear enough to relay all the wrinkles and fuzzy enough to retain that “indie” aesthetic;
• Eclipse Records is a great place to stock up on psych (no I’m not getting paid for this link)
• Sylvester Anfang are like No-Neck Blues Band if they played live from a slaughterhouse in Germany;
• There are a lot of cheap gimmicks to be had, psych signifiers are all over the place;
• If you want to sit down with a post-rock/psych 2XLP that fills each of its sides to the edges, you definitely, definitely want SA II …

Hell, guess I got carried away with the bullet points! That’s OK because it’s been a long day — let’s just say I’ve spent time in the ER today — and I’m ready to tuck myself in. Hopefully I won’t dream about those pig fuckers in Sylvester Anfang, whether it be I or II …