Natural Man & The Flamin' Hot Band - EP
One cannot stretch a balloon into a nail OR morph a turkey into a television. By that logic, one can’t adequately tie a bow around Mr. Ian Teeple’s oeuvre, be it as guitar bubbler in WARM BODIES or as the outer realm conduit Natural Man, a guise heard here on wax for the first time. Aided by the all-directions Flamin’ Hot Band, Natural Man’s orchestral yet abnormal spazz recalls the most acidic and jaunty oddities of 80s American punk and DIY, a truly outside sound that’s positively thwacking at the gates, demanding entry. All four movements here have the requisite legs, fins, hoofs, gills and spores needed to cause prolonged and consistent commotion. “Sudden Wave” begins with recognizable Detroit punk riffing, gradually evolving that tough-guy overbite into bonfide space skronk. “Militant” drags a new wave pulse through the gutter, wringing out a danceability that even the spikiest of punks couldn’t resist. In this universe or your mother’s, Natural Man is an Electrical Man and just the right man for our end times. - Mitch Cardwell