Here’s my New Zealand Music Month bandcamp purchase for 3 May. Except it isn’t a ‘purchase’ because there is no ‘buy’ option for the digital album. So, we’ll just have to call this an IOU to The All Seeing Hand that I will buy the CD or LP when it is released in June. I’m going to honour that promise, because, well, I would not want to mess with The All Seeing Hand.
They are the most terrifying, intense, visceral and exciting thing I have ever seen and heard, like being in the same room as an alien life-form (not that I have had much experience of that, but I imagine that’s what it might feel like to be both terrified and excited by something you have not experienced before). If you have never seen them live you really ought to experience a performance. The All Seeing Hand consist of a throat-singer, a turntablist and a powerhouse drummer. The album has a few other guests.
The best description I could come up with when I saw then play live and tried to explain them to others was “Klingon death-metal-space-disco” but that’s not the half of it. How else would you describe a track like ‘Clot’ (one of the pieces I remember vividly from when I saw them)?
Simon Reynolds in his book ‘Retromania’ lamented the apparent lack of new ideas and new frontiers in music. He should check out All Seeing Hand. I’ve seen and heard a lot of music over more decades than I care to admit to. But The All Seeing Hand were not from this earth and blew my mind.
So, yes, I’ll be getting the album in it’s physical form. I expect it will be an exquisitely-packaged item too.
Pop Lib 