Louder Than Dirt,Thicker Than Mud!

SNAKE EYES - This track is a pretty cool tribal rhythm track with a simple but effective melody, and a primal ethic. While not remarkable, it is quite nice with it's raw slow burn energy.

DIRTY WHITE COLLAR - Ah yes, a song about ring around the collar...a sort of white collar version of a blue collar plague. Not very melodic, and a bit faster paced. It is a fun track. Big chords and a taste of ominosity.

SWIVEL HIPSTER SHAKE - Dissonant edginess, chords and a simple melody. The chords leave you with a nervous edginess, and that seems like a nice change. Not as nerve wracking as Armageddon's Buzzard, but still it grates on the nerves - cool.

FLIPPIN' OUT - What a nifty track. The basis is a simple progression, but there's just enough noodling guitar licks and the like to keep it afloat.

SCI FI VOODOO - Ringing chords, slow deliberate pace, vibrato lead, extra sad melody line, and moodiness deluxe. Very nice track.

CHIWAWAH! - So, is this the way a boy from Dayton, Ohio spells Chihuahua? Not significant I suppose. No Spanish feel here, but it's delicate damped notes and changes to big guitar and drum rants is quite tasty. Great track.

BUSTIN' GOLFCLUBS - Great title. I expected some peon to Bustin' Surfboards, but alas, it wasn't to be. It's a groany number with a cool little riff. I usually dislike such repetitious numbers, but this seems to work just fine.

BONFIRE SERENADE - Ah, now this is nice. The gentle rimshots, the serene melody and guitar tones, the relaxed pace are all nice. There seems to be some problem with the bass resonating (eq or cabinet noise maybe), but it's a very pretty number, not in the Aqua Velvets or Richie Podolar way, but in a garage last dance at the prom way. Very nice.

A MAN WITH NO REVERB IS NO MAN AT ALL - Well, who can argue with the title... A pretty cool song, nicely written and structured. The mid tempo gentility of it is soothing without being background. I like this track.

RUMBLE 3000 - Having just seen Link Wray, the inspiration isn't lost on me. The electronic warbling is pretty cool. The Linkster doesn't play it this laid back, of course, but then that adds a whole other dimension. Best Link cover in awhile.

BRIDGE OF DEATH - Holy speed, Bad Man! This just starts, stays, then finishes - fast. A really interesting next step from the Dick Dale noodle factory filigree thing. Quite different than the rest of the CD, with it's rockabilly feel and it's intensity. - Phil Dirt

ROOTED MAGAZINE
Ohio's Mulchmen combine the soul of pre-surf instrumentals and R&B-flavored heavy guitar grooves on the group's full-length LP. Tracks like "Mudslide," "Swivel Hipster Shake," "Frank" and "Bustin' Golfclubs" give to a solid performance. The sound of "Louder Than Dirt..." wanders between modern rock to surf with style that's heavy with distorted twang. I say MMM...Good!

COSMIK DEBRIS
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Pssst... There's danger in Dayton. Pass it on.

In my review of The Mulchmen's 7"; EP, "All The News That's Fit To Surf", I said they followed just enough of the rules to be considered trad. Yeah, well the rule book is now in the shredder basket and they're throwin' in a match. The Mulchmen don't get fancy when they play their brand of surf/spy/punk. Where another band might throw fifty machine-gun notes to kick you along, The Mulchmen use sparse arrangements and empty spaces to build drama and tension and send you into free fall. Each song consists of several diverse segments, strung together in a most satisfying way, with Nick Kizirnis' guitar sounding mean and foreboding one moment and Carl Wilson-jangly the next. And that puts The Mulchmen in their own category. Brian Hogarth (bass) and Gregg Spence (drums) never try to grandstand, opting instead to trade flash for simplicity and power, giving Kizirnis all the room he needs to weave a spell with guitar or theremin. This is dangerous, eyes-closed, head-swaying brain music, and that's the best kind. Just as the rule book bursts into flames, The Mulchmen launch into the high octane intro to "Bridge Of Death", sounding for all the world like a traditional surf band. But in the final moments of that final track, Spence and Hogarth jump into a boogie-lock reminiscent of Rik Lee and Leo Lyons (Ten Years After) as Kizirnis goes stark raving bonkers on the theremin.

It seems only proper that "Louder Than Dirt, Thicker Than Mud" should reach meltdown rather than simply end.

ZENTERTAINMENT / MARKPRINDLE.COM
This three-man band (one on guitar, one on bass, one on drums, one on theremin and fifty-two on fifty-two-part harmony vocals) is creating some surf/spy melodies so amazing that you'd swear they have to be covers, but they're NOT! The darkness of a "Mudslide," the mysterious casino of "Snake Eyes," the high-pace secret agent car chase where he has little spoke thingies he can push out of his tire to pop the other guy's tires of "Dirty White Collar," the fun goodtime surf hang-ten yet still a spy, just pretending to be a surfer of "Flippin' Out," the pretty ballad for women named "Frank" because women always get romantically turned out by that poster of Frank Zappa sitting on the toilet, the really fast choppy choppy SURF PUNKS (Oh no! Not Them Again!) of "Bridge Of Death" - all killer songs. And that's SIX great original instrumental modern-day classics...

ALL-MUSIC GUIDE
Displaying all the usual stripped-down surf/instrumental guitar influences (Link Wray, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, etc.), the Mulchmen separate themselves from the pack with the use of a theremin on some tracks and touches of early British punk, spy-movie soundtrack music and Ennio Morricone-style Western music. - Steve Huey

SHAKIN' FEVER (Belgium)
Another US surf instrumental band. I really don't have any information about the band, but I think this is their very first release. The band plays slow and melodic surf tunes but have the ability to keep your attention till the last minute. Yet another great instrumental piece that's for sure.