eMusic Review 0
The emergence of Nirvana during 1991 didn't just inspire a reappraisal of early '70s hard rock. It also revived an alternative tradition that saw fracture and dissonance as integral to popular music. While most grunge bands paid lip service to that idea, the ones that truly took up the challenge were Trumans Water. Based in San Diego, the three-guitar combo created a magnificent chaos in the manner of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. Though incredibly loud and defiantly obtuse, their music was meticulously mapped out — even if to unsuspecting ears it didn't necessarily sound that way. While their finest moment is the 1993 2-LP set, Spasm Smash XXX0X0X 0X & Ass, the previous year's Laugh Light Lit EP offers an impressive primer. Most notable is the teeth-grittingly tense lead track, "Habits Are Spirits," which weaves a characteristically labyrinthine course, from dark, slo-mo riffs to falsetto shrieks, trebly insect guitar lines and eruptions of mind punishing angularity.
