“Electro Psych Rock for junkyard dogs in heat”
Tobacco’s latest gem, Ultima II Massage, is a disembodied aural experience. It’s like sex with a head cold – grimy, distorted, wet, and rhythmic with a lot of heavy breathing.
Sonically, Ultima sounds like it has been run through a meat grinder, only it has an engine that purrs and a beat that consistently comes back to knock. Tobacco’s signature trailer-trash analog synths and vocoder vocals run throughout the album, appearing on tacks like “Self Tanner” and “Good Complexion.”
Ultima is constantly breathing, broken up by textures, clouds of fog, timing, the sound of metal being crushed, eardrums warping, and of intergalactic space weapons charging up and obliterating everything.
It’s full of demonic pussy-tinglers, mixed muddy with luscious bass lines and dirty drum patterns. Tracks like “Eruption,” “Omen Classic” and “Beast Sting” deeply embed listeners into the aggressive sonic landscape that is Ultima. The album is entirely meditative. The world around the listener melts away while Tobacco rips apart their brain.
Tobacco
Ultima II Massage
Pittsburgh, PA
(Ghostly International)
Follow Tobacco on Twitter @maniacmeat