Sunburned Hand of the Man’s first proper vinyl release gets a beautiful remastered reissue treatment thanks to the wizards at Three Lobed Recordings.
Originally recorded in the summer of 2001, and shortly after the tragedies of 9/11 in the wilds of Western Mass., Headdress was and still is an astounding document of the shamanic tribe of sonic travelers in full, freakish flight.
The loose collective shifts and changes shape like a squiggling amoeba on this record. At times, they jam together like an off-kilter free jazz unit, and at other points they rock out hard and tattered like The Source Family commune on a bad trip. Then there are other moments that sound like field recordings made at an ancient fireside ritual fueled by the most potent of spiritual psychedelics. All in all, this album sounds as fresh, daring and wholly original now as it did 20 years ago.
A record like this is meant to have a dirty, rough sound, yet the improved clarity on this edition does make swallowing the Sunburned Kool-Aid that much easier. Kudos to Carl Saff for remastering this beast without removing its balls. Just give a listen to “The Illness” for a fine example of this rich aural sorcery (and for a taste of the band’s slippery Quicksilver Messenger Service-like dream guitar action):
Housed in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve and available on black and purple vinyl, you know you can’t let this LP pass you by. Click here to preorder it ahead of its October 28th release date.
-KH
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Record Crates United 