Venerable Chicago noise-rock freaks the Jesus Lizard don’t actually strike me as musical-theater sorts, however their newest heaving riff-spray is outwardly their riff on a Broadway traditional. Permit deranged guitar genius Duane Denison to explain the band’s new single “Westside”: “‘Westside’ goes together with the earlier single, ‘Price Of Dwelling,’ which was subconsciously influenced by Leonard Bernstein’s West Facet Story, and therefore the identify. Actually.” Hmm. OK.
“Westside” is a lumbering, gargling monster-beast of a music, and it doesn’t counsel the Jets and the Sharks rumbling a lot because the second when a shambling atomic sludge-monster emerges from the Hudson and steps on each gangs, crushing all of them into viscera. However possibly David Yow, the Jesus Lizard’s even-more-deranged frontman, can shed slightly extra mild on its inspiration: “There’s a half in ‘Westside’ the place the lyrics say, ‘Give him again his arm.’ That was impressed by David Lynch’s Misplaced Freeway, when Robert Blake’s character says, ‘Give me again my telephone.’” Proper, certain. I’m actually not seeing that connection, both, nevertheless it makes extra sense than the West Facet Story factor.
Simply final 12 months, the Jesus Lizard got here again with Rack, their first new album in 26 years. They adopted it shortly afterwards with “Price Of Dwelling,” the stand-alone single that Duane Denison talked about in that first paragraph up there, and now we’re additionally getting “Westside.” It’s like they began releasing phlegm-coated urgh-splat rock music once more, and now they’ll’t cease. We should always be thankful for no matter bizarre shit impressed the Jesus Lizard to get again into preventing form. Hear “Westside” beneath.
“Westside” is out now on Ipecac.
