Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Alan Jenkins and The Kettering Vampires — Painting the Horse's Nose in the Wrong Place
(Cordelia Records no#, 2024, 2CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-03-08

Painting the Horse's Nose in the Wrong Place Cover art

Here at Exposé, our first encounter with Alan Jenkins was with his band called The Thurston Lava Tube, which played experimental surf music. Jenkins has many other projects, including The Creams, The Deep Freeze Mice, and The Kettering Vampires. This group’s music is centered around psychedelic rock with a hefty dose of trippy experimentalism. They’ve released a significant number of recordings, including a collaboration with R. Stevie Moore called The Embodiment of Progressive Ideals. Painting the Horse's Nose in the Wrong Place is a 2CD set featuring 28 tracks, some of which are less than a minute in length while one stretches above ten minutes. Scanning song titles like “Featherless Ostriches,” “Bioengineered Christ Fishes,” “The Gates of Mouse School,” “A New Way Out for Ducks,” “Shall We Change Our Insect T-Shirts,” “Eight Women Named Aeroplane,” and “Calculating the Age of Bread,” you might think that you’re in for absurdist imagery, and you would be quite correct. Fans of Robyn Hitchcock might find a commonality — “Furry Green Atom Bowl” anyone? There are so many weird phrases in the lyrics I don’t know where to begin, but that’s the kind of thing I rather enjoy. There’s no real need for more songs that are straightforward and easy to understand, so lyrical puzzles are fine. Musically, there are many callbacks to some of the weirder bands of the late 60s and early 70s, like The United States of America, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and so on. Other references would include Trout Mask Replica, Freak Out, and The Beatles’ “Revolution 9.” “Alphabetical List of Human Flies” is the set’s long track, and it’s almost a sound collage, built up of diverse found recordings and snips of music, some instrumental and some with words. Within the general style, there’s a lot of variation and variety, with some tracks featuring nifty Mellotron parts, others favoring combo organ, wah-wah guitar, harpsichord, twangy surf guitar, accordion, a horn section, and much more (not all at the same time, thankfully). Given the length, it’s a lot to take in, but there’s no requirement you do it in one sitting. I’d recommend Painting the Horse's Nose in the Wrong Place to any fan of psychedelic rock who’s keen to hear something further off the beaten path than usual.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): The Kettering Vampires, Alan Jenkins

More info
http://alanjenkins.bandcamp.com/album/painting-the-horses-nose-in-the-wrong-place

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.