Lids – Sarsfest 7″ – Styrofoam Drone

Telephone Explosion Records just proudly released the debut 7″ from LIDS, a “supergroup” based in Toronto containing members of Metz, Holy Fuck and the Constantines.

Combining traditional instruments with pure electricity, this 7″ is always in motion, navigating the constant flow of ripples and reverberations with the utmost repetition in a sea of fizzing electronics. It’s difficult to pin down, and it’s certainly up for debate, but these two tracks are pulsing with an electronically-dominated psychedelic punch that’s built from the inside-out, starting with a krautrock-like skeleton.

A-side “Sarsfest” includes the usage of guitars, mostly covering a lead role with high-flying licks over cooing vocals. Flipping it over, B-side “Blank Flag” could have easily been on the A-side of this glitchy 7″. The electric rhythm clicks and pops with an attitude, containing anything from tambourines and maracas to the sludgy bottom layer that keeps everything flowing as if were drifting on a hot flume of magma. Delayed guitar hooks begin to open up as robotic vocals slither along like they were lit by a strobe light. At the 3 minute mark we begin to float higher – guitars glow brighter and become entirely prominent instead of being muffled by fuzz. A minute later we’re burning up in a swell of noise and the track takes a sudden step back and gets quieter. Now we can really see and hear what “Blank Flag” is made of. There’s less clogging the pipes and so the guitars begin rising vibrantly like a line of highlighter shining right off of a piece of paper. You’re 100% better off just listening to this one instead of reading any nonsense we have to say – hear both sides of the 7″ right below.