Slack Slack Music (DL)
The second instalment in Gareth Sager's 'Creeping Bent Triptych'
NME Review, July 2009
Some slack you really should be picking up...
'Gareth Sager was guitarist in legendary post-punkers The Pop Group and his debut solo album follows their wobbly avant-reggae lines. Instead of sticking to minimalism, though, it piles on funk, soul, glam, and howls of invocation like a demonic game of Buckaroo. ‘Bad Bad Loser’ is like The Fall joining the dancefloor to intimidate the dancers with full throttle aggro-funk. ‘So Fired Up’ is voodoo rockabilly straight from a David Lynch nightclub, ‘Dollar Hungry’ like John Spencer doing Prince and ‘Hot Hits Vol 27’ is a genius Tom Waits/Elvis hybrid. Titles such as ‘Not Since The Accident’ and ‘Draining Swan Lake’ indicate the level of wit on display here and the album feels fun in a way you wouldn’t expect from the old guard. Sager’s the disco Captain Beefheart. Mega.'