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Brutal Poodle are incomprehensible. Not exactly noise, though not really music, they fit into the gray area where early industrial music, free jazz and headtrip krautrock reign supreme.
The opening, “FunBox,” is a somber affair, all dark organ and strange noises reminiscent of Ramleh. “Stuck a Feather (Good When It Hurts),” however, nods to the likes of Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy-era Sun Ra, the early freeform freakouts of Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream and North African music, especially about nine minutes in when things start sounding like The Master Musicians of Jajouka. The title track could be La Monte Young doodling with NYC contemporaries, The Godz, while “I Wanna Die (Like John Belushi)” is Hasil Adkins having an asthmatic fit. The closing “Drowning Babies in China” returns to the dark Ramleh-inspired sound, haunting improvisation bent on conjuring nightmares.
While not for everybody, Brutal Poodle offer a glimpse into a place where music and noise are one, where notes and chords actually do mean nothing and atmosphere is everything. I rather like this place.
