Osees: A Foul Form album review — a brash fan letter to hardcore punk

Californian garage rockers Osees have been commandeered by vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist John Dwyer since the late 1990s. Over time they have sealed their cult status as they have shifted shape, tweaked their name (previous variations have included OCS and Thee Oh Sees), and experimented with guitar styles across numerous records. They have also never really toned down their sound.

A Foul Form is billed as their 21st album (it’s a little tricky to keep count as they delivered three LPs in 2020 alone), released on the Castle Face label co-founded by Dwyer. Its material flaunts the irreverent, fast and loose energy that has earned the band a loyal following, but it’s also a brash fan letter to the transatlantic pioneers of hardcore punk and art rock that originally inspired them, including Rasta rockers Bad Brains, Essex anarchists Crass, Iggy Pop’s proto-punks The Stooges and Black Flag. The latter act’s own former frontman, spoken-word titan Henry Rollins, is now a self-professed Osees admirer who writes a sleeve blurb for this album.

A Foul Form’s blitz of nihilistic visions and dark wit isn’t an easy-going experience, yet the album is a surprisingly entertaining listen which captures some of the adrenalin rush of Osees’ live gigs. Dwyer describes the album as “brain stem-cracking scum-punk, recorded tersely in the basement of my home”. Its tracklisting comprises 10 intensely spiky nuggets, most barely scraping the two-minute mark, but the collection never sounds insubstantial. The lo-fi production also never takes the edge off the band’s sharp, fluid musicianship.

The weirdly appealing, angular funk hooks of “Too Late for Suicide” prove a particular highlight, although you’ll have to listen hard to decipher the scathing, anti-authoritarian lyrics that Dwyer is spitting. On the opener “Funeral Solution”, he argues that “peaceful living is too slow” — but for the most part, the rabble-rousing riffs and rhythms speak for themselves.

It all screeches to a close with the iconoclastic “Sacrifice”, a cover of an obscure yet catchy track by early-1980s British punks Rudimentary Peni, which also suggests a connection with 21st-century indie rockers like Arctic Monkeys. Osees might not stick around for long here, but they leave an impression that punk is alive and in the rudest health.

★★★☆☆

‘A Foul Form’ is released by Castle Face