Psychic Ills – Early Violence (Social Registry, 2007)
(This originally appeared in the Summer ‘07 issue of Skyscraper)
Considering that Dins stands as an un-touted moment of perfection amongst all of the psych schlock that appeared within the last few years, Early Violence only serves to explain where the band came from. The assertion of Dins main idea, prehistoric drumming coupled with repetitive but intelligent guitar lines, is present even at these early dates. What the band has come to embrace in their live shows is augmented by additional influences. “Killer” gushes forth ‘80s British adulation with rudimentary keyboard and electronic sounding drum programming. Punk rears its head a bit during some of the guitar focused moments, but never over takes the proceedings. Early Violence displays a band trying to work out which of their influences should take over. Obviously there’s the omnipresent Spacemen sound, but ‘70s NYC rock is a touchstone as well. Having figured this, naming a song “Days”, which Television did as well, and playing it for 7 minutes amidst the worst recording of the scattered selections seems a bad idea. The 8 tracks only add up to thirty-five minutes and every listener will find at least one song a throw away. Unless the copy of Dins you bought is worn out already, you probably can wait to find this used in the discount bin.
