Dead Sea Apes - Sixth Side Of The Pentagon (2017)

Since their inception in 2009, Manchester's Dead Sea Apes have ploughed a furrow that is decidedly psychedelic with regard to their penchant for expansive and consciousness-altering guitar/bass/drums work-outs. Yet DSA have always been decidedly non-conformist and experimental too, never easily fitting into a 'psychedelic scene' like so many of their contemporaries. Their new album, Sixth Side Of The Pentagon, sees this bent towards experimentation further examined and explored. Taking excerpts from the track Sixth Side Of The Pentagon from their previous album, Dead Sea Apesgrew the ideas into fully formed dub cultures. Most possibly as a reflection of recent political and economic events, the mood has darkened like a carbon-stained post-industrial skyline - the basslines bubble over with a dub-frenzy of fluid proficiency, alienated shards of guitar sear into your cortex and disorientating notes of insectoid electronica float in and out of the mix. Think 'Metal Box'-era PIL and hints of early Cabaret Voltaire fused with the rolling liquid sound that DSA have made their own. The addition of guest vocals by Hannah Grasskamp from Jungfrau and the artist and writer Adam Stone add an extra dimension of theoretical engagement that is new to the work of DSA.