(Low Transit)

The chief Scientist returns with the first Surrealists album in over a decade

As the person responsible (along with The Birthday Party) for the birth of Australian noise-rock and a pivotal figure in the genre’s development, Kim Salmon remains an uncompromising and often unpredictable sonic terrorist. During recent years, the Blood Red River man has forayed into dark folk/alt-country with Darling Downs (a collaboration with Died Pretty’s Ron Peno), regrouped The Scientists for 2007’s Sedition and assembled a temporary instrumental group simply called Salmon (featuring among others Dave Graney and Clare Moore). 2010 sees the ever-prolific Kim reconvene The Surrealists’ original line-up – himself, Stu Thomas and Phil Collings – and embark on another eardrum-annihilating mission. The combo’s first studio album since 1997, Grand Unifying Theory is a righteous blast of dirty garage-punk with avant-jazz leanings and some no-wave funk thrown in for a good measure. Scuzz-dripping opener Turn Turn sets the (menacing) pace while the subsequent double of Order Of Things and RQ1 has the seemingly non-aging Salmon punish his guitar with an almost primordial intensity and the two-part title track channels VU-era Lou Reed at his most “outta sight”. With plenty of near-hypnotic, simplistic riffs, abrasive atonal keyboards and searing feedback, the record is decidedly not everyone’s cup of tea – but then, Salmon has never had such aim. As they used to say back in the olden days, way out.

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DENIS SEMCHENKO

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