The Blind Shake “I Shot All the Birds”

The Blind Shake “I Shot All the Birds” b/w “Tar Paper” 2017. Third Man Records, recorded “live to tape” on Sept. 28th, 2016. The Blind Shake from Minneapolis are brothers Mike (vocals, baritone guitar) and Jim (guitar) Blaha along with drummer Dave Roper (maybe? I feel like the drummers keep swapping around) and play garage-punk inspired “extraterrestrial backyard surf party” noise rock. We’re planning to head to Acme Records here in Milwaukee on Friday to check out one of Mike Blaha’s side projects, BLAHA (they played at Acme this past March) and while BLAHA isn’t quite as toxic-sludge heavy as The Blind Shake, they are still intense and very, very loud.

I Shot All the Birds” appears on The Blind Shake’s 2016 Celebrate Your Worth (Goner Records). It’s sneering psych-surf, menacingly dense and swampy with a muscular industrial beat. “Tar Paper,” from the 2015 Fly Right LP (Slovenly Recordings) is a brutal stomper, a wall of sound draped with a cacophony of angry reverb.