Landed - Liver + Lungs CD

With a drawing of a Native American and an English adventurer exchanging obscenities and a photo of Dick Cheney superimposed with an equally raw caption among the cover examples, Liver + Lungs isn't out to win congeniality awards -- then again that wasn't the intent of Landed to start with. On this six-song release compiling a variety of tracks from varying lineups of the group, Landed are out to create retrospectively what seems like a last statement of intent on the whole Bush administration, at least if song titles like "Osama OxyContin" and "Dirty Bomb" are any indication, but the music itself doesn't so much betray that as it does clattering, rumbling percussion; guitars that add everything from unearthly howl to scraggly tones; and, above all else, slashing, angry bass that often needs nothing more than maniacal repetition of a note or two to lock down and drive a song. It's the focus of the performances throughout that unifies the album -- there's a precision to the songs that steers firmly away from random sprawl to what could almost be Can in a dank factory, with changes appearing as subtle variations rather than complete deconstructions. The nearly incomprehensible vocals perhaps help the comparison at points, being either buried or otherwise distorted much of the time.