The Brian Jonestown Massacre — My Bloody Underground

This won't be much of a surprise to anyone, but Brian Jonestown Massacre leader Anton Newcombe has finally gone off the deep end. That the once prolific musician has been heard little of since 2005's tepid We Are The Radio EP was an early warning sign, but My Bloody Underground feels like a man in full-on creative crisis.

BJM's greatest successes always came from Newcombe plucking the best shoegaze and psychedelica straight from your record collection, reimagining it, then injecting it straight back into your brain. Here though, Newcombe's vocals have deteriorated even further and he's dropped multiple Velvet-light droneathons to obfuscate and fill tape space in place of "songs." Although typically Newcombian, song titles like "Bring Me The Head Of Paul McCartney On Heather Mill's Wooden Peg," "Automatic Faggot For The People" and "Just Like Kicking Jesus" feel too much like a desperate look-at-me need to shock.

Newcombe's always had a peculiar relationship to his growing popularity and mythology, and if the purpose of this record is to kill all that, he's done a good job.

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