hooray! lest ye think the dc punk community ran out of good ideas after fugazi, planaria records has something that is looking to change your mind. i found out about planaria through their excellent distro, but have found myself impressed with the label as well. while browsing through the distro's web catalog one day (text-based solidarity!), i came upon some heady claims about the black eyes. "Black Eyes admire the UK rhythm of the Slits, Pop Group, and Gang of Four to the US No Wave and Dance punk of Liquid Liquid and DNA to the Afro-Beat of Fela Kuti. Throw in Einsturzende Neubaten, The Ex, Faust, Dub, Can, Black Flag, Miles Davis, Birthday Party, Brian Eno, Haitian Rara, and IDM" and, apparently, we would find ourselves enthralled, listening in ecstasy to the revolutionary sounds of some kids from dc that no one had ever heard of a year ago.
still, any band that claimed to sound like these bands, even one of these bands, was clearly a band with balls. well, there is only one track on here by black eyes, "have been murdered again," and despite the fact that it doesn't really sound like any of the bands mentioned, it is damn good. jittery drums and a raunchy bassline out of fugazi's repeater era (this was recorded, after all, by ian mackaye himself) build up into a dirty groove that chugs relentlessly. the big positive with this is that, unlike a lot of rhythm-heavy material, black eyes do not spare the protein. throaty vocals and off-kilter drumming give this one track as much repeated-listening value as an entire album from those whose aspirations to similar excellence do not prove as fortunate (yes, i am pretty much talking about the rapture here).
the flipside is pleasing as well, perking one's interest immediately due to the fact that planaria did not pick two bands that sound exactly the same (there is a lesson to be learned, record labels). early humans have similar sonic ties to the dc punk scene, but opt for a more experimental bent. they start out with "ranil," which begins with some traditional-sounding guitar-drums-bass riffage but throws in several unexpected stops, starts, and what would be called "bridges" if they weren't in the wrong place. good stuff - i would have been happier if the feedback fest of "talk to the tigers" had been the shorter track on this side, rather than the other way around. still, the latter track finds more interesting territory which will keep adventurous listeners curious about this band in the future. ...that was a bad sentence. i'm going to bed.