Sex Funeral – All Teeth

7.31.19 by Ryan Masteller

Maybe we can finally and actually, once and for all, have this funeral for “sex” that everyone’s been talking about. Nobody wants it, right? So let’s put it in the ground. Sex Funeral itself wants a sex funeral, if their new tape, “All Teeth” on Gay Hippie Vampire, is to be believed. And why wouldn’t you believe it? Sex Funeral wrote it. They’re the experts here, not us.

Crushingly inventive even at their most laid back, the duo of Bob Bucko Jr. and Matthew Crowe are at their most laid back on “All Teeth.” Normally a progressive free improv/blistering noise maelstrom of drums and sax, Sex Funeral this time are master tinkerers, fiddling with synthesizer knobs and percussive elements beyond drums, all while retaining some of that sweet signature saxophone for emphatic use. To call “All Teeth” creepy would be to sell it short. It’s tense and unusual, coiled like a wild animal, probably ready to strike if the need arises. 

But the need does not arise.

Bucko and Crowe refuse to take the bait and shred – their patience is enormous and complete and warranted, and the result is nothing short of a fascinating head trip at every moment. It’s the freshest they’ve sounded in years – which is a weird way of suggesting that it’s only because they likely didn’t work up much of a sweat on all these tunes. Their sound is always fresh, but they also usually sound like they’re really sweaty. Which is fine, if that’s the mood you’re in.

Only seven left of the original run from Gay Hippie Vampire. GHV says, “Thoughtful[y] dubbed over a found tape with a Sony 950ES (it sounds great, trust me).” Why wouldn’t you?