Purling Hiss

Purling Hiss, a Philly psych band, is the side project of Michael Polizze of Birds of Maya and will melt your face off while its doing your woman, man. With two albums under his belt, Purling Hiss is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands and feels like a middle finger to the "beats and keyboards" indie world that seems to never want to be anything but of the moment.
Purling Hiss's debut album bashes your ear holes with enough crunchy, searing, hot metal, guitar jams that they may just melt off in the ensuing chaos. With songs like "Almost Washed My Hair" your speakers bleed! Its the sonic equivalent of a nasty scrape on your knee when you wreck your bike and your mom makes you take a bath. That shit STINGS. Do you get out of the tub? No! You endure it you sadomasochistic fuck!
With so much white hot guitar soloing all over this album, its as if Iggy Pop said to James Williamson during the recording of the Raw Power album " Keep playing that same riff till your fingers fall off, you monkey" and than yelped through delays like a horny mutant. This is raw, dirty, grimy, with a thick layer of sleaze and man do I love it.
Their second album, "Public Service Announcement" is just as good and seems slightly informed by fellow Phillybilly Kurt Vile. Things have been tuned down a bit but still remain vibrant and energetic but now Mr. Polizze has discovered melody. Oh how sweet it is! "Run from the City" is classic rock recorded through broken speakers à la Ariel Pink. In fact the whole album has an Ariel Pink feel to it due to the lofi nature of the recording. The endless phased guitars on"Porch Dude/Slight Return" make for pleasant headphone tripping and " Don't Even Try it" sounds like warbled AM radio pop bliss. "Malice in Wonderland" is Les Rallizes Denudes on downers. Dirgy, phased, distorted guitars to the max, this beast takes you to the 7th layer of hell and leaves you there. The closer " 1976" is an awesome keyboard wasteland with distant drums and a pulsating bassline. Sounds like Radio 4 off of Pil's Metal Box , recorded on a warped cassette tape.
With these two brilliant and diverse records Purling Hiss is setting itself up to be quite a contender in the limp indie rock world. This music has balls and will show them to you.



Purling Hiss - Down on the Delaware River by sarah_sarah_