feedtime

Imagine laying your head on railroad tracks, feeling the vibrations of the oncoming train rattling through your head, and leaving your head on the tracks as the train roars over it, and you're getting close to the sonic assault that is Feedtime. Crude, repetitive, droning, simplistic; these are all qualities that lead to big fun when any one of Feedtime's four records lands on your noggin with a resounding thud. In fact, it would be reasonable to more succinctly describe these guys as Australia's Flipper/Big Black/Melvins (pick one). Amazingly, there is something that passes for nuance in each of their records. Emerging from the tar pit of sound are blues licks (albeit the loudest, most-distorted blues licks you've ever heard), folk, and country touches, and art damage on a par with Flipper and Pere Ubu. Ferociously direct, the music of Feedtime is as relentless as it is dark; there are no happy moments here, and the gurgling, vomited-up vocals add to the black mood. That, however, doesn't mean these guys didn't have a sense of humor: their third record, Cooper-S (the title comes from the name of an Australian manufactured sub-compact car) is loaded with covers (Beach Boys, Stones, Ramones, etc.), wherein Feedtime bludgeons each one to death with tongue-in-cheek. Sadly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Feedtime's extreme take on rock & roll ground to a halt in 1989. Maybe they simply were too intense for themselves to continue, but in the meantime they unleased a lugubrious fury of sonic distress that few bands have equalled. ~ John Dougan, All Music Guide