Artist: King Tuts Tomb

Artist: King Tuts Tomb

Links: https://www.facebook.com/KingTutsTomb

http://kingtutstomb.bandcamp.com/

It's been said that visceral emotional reactions can transform memories into trauma. So too with King Tuts Tomb. What burns them into our psyches is the coupling of ominous synth-scapes with memorable turns-of-phrase. On “Debra,” over a sensual synth progression, we get a tender baritone ruminating on his May-December romance, “Hey Debra / I just want you to know / I love ya / And even though you're so much older than me / The way I look at it / I have so much to learn from you.” Call it serious, or seriously hilarious, it's moments like these that have King Tuts Tomb following in the footsteps of true Chicago originals like Jesus Lizard, Wesley Willis and Steve Albini.

As Pissed Jeans did on its heralded “The Jogger,” King Tuts Tomb reels listeners in with mentions of contemporary calling cards, e.g. dating websites (“She Walked Away”), technical schools (“Mass Produxion”), and the VFW (“frozen in time”). On “She Walked Away,” KTT interpolates the spoken word -- “I had a job / I was a success / I made money / A big business” -- with sneering howls rivaling those of Mudhoney/Green River's Mark Arm (also on “Annihilation”).

King Tuts Tomb tops this cocktail with a singularly varied menu of garnishes: falsetto (“Bucket of Blood”), Casio samples (“Bucket of Blood”), pulsing instrumentals (“Soul Looker”), low-in-the-mix guitar leads (“Oracle”), rap (“Tombsday”), as well as Euro-industrial pronouncements akin to Atari Teenage Riot, KMFDM and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (“Disappear”).

“[F]rozen in time” unfolds in KTT's typically unpredictable fashion: prominent bassline; silly-yet-sophisticated keyboard notes; hand-claps; a “frozen in time” hook set off by catchy 80's keys that belong under the same banner as NIN's Pretty Hate Machine; and a trip down memory lane underscored by emotive synths.

But if I had to describe the music of King Tuts Tomb in a sentence, it would be this: It's a room-temperature, vomit-inducing milkshake.

(And that's a good thing.)

*** The author of this review, Andrew Baker, plays the uruttu chenda for the following band: http://youtu.be/tMS73-1kCr8