Bohren & Der Club of Gore – Delores

In the 90s when the blip that was the slowcore movement was enjoying its time under the arctic sun groups like Codeine, Low and Red House Painters took rock’s pitch control waaaay to the left. Who knew that the jazz world had its own snail pacers? Well apparently Mike Patton did, and he’s given them a new platform on his Ipecac label. The current group evolved between 1988 and 1992 from “Bohren” (German for drilling), a grindcore outfit, to play their current style of music, self-described “doom ridden jazz.” Delores, their sixth full length, maintains the inexorable crawl of their earlier works, but they’ve somewhat lost that “sinking feeling.” Thank Cologne’s Christoph Clöser who joined the band in 1997 and substituted saxophone, vibraphone and Fender Rhodes for the previously dominant guitar sound. Added to the existing drum, bass and organ he is the top layer of a slow-moving avalanche of minor keys. Imagine Twin Peaks’ Laura Palmer was never found and stayed frozen under the river; this is what Angelo Badalamenti’s score might have sounded like. Meditative, melancholy and safe to waltz to if someone spikes your Cosmo with Librium.

Ipecac