The Mission Creeps – In Sickness and in Health
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/22/07
Horror surf garage rock with bluesy bits, and theremin, yay! It’s hard to tell how seriously to take these folks – a lot of it’s great fun, but some of it is fairly depressed. Lo-fi, in that there’s no attempt to make the vocals sound perfect (singer has a decent voice, mind you), and there’s definitely a major Cramps element.
No FCCs detected, but I can’t tell what he’s talking about half the time anyway. I like 3 and 9 a lot.
1. **starts with lots of theremin and electronics (spooky noises) then midtempo creepy surf rock. Definite homage to the Cramps, quite lo-fi.
2. *frug-a-go-go in the graveyard. Nice vocal harmonies, straightforward garage rock, Nuggets-oid.
3. ****fun ultra-slow oozing stroll, farfisa, fun lyrics.
4. *long congas intro, guitar and squeepy theramin… slow, downbeat. The spiderhole may be vaguely related to a wormhole, but it’s hard to tell.
5. *very quiet intro, whispery noises very slowly building to extremely slow, somewhat bluesy crawl. Quite convincing, but I’m not sure of what, exactly.
6. ***squeeps for a moment, then fuzz-rock. Do the pony! But watch out for the blood.
7. **starts with very quiet guitar, downtempo waltz, depressed pirate song with accordion. Arrr!
8. ***jaunty guitar and vocals intro, then bouncy, bluesy bop with harmonica.
9. ****bouncy, bluesy “working in the coal mine” meets “I’m a lumberjack” polka with cowbell.
10. *melancholy guitar and piano, slow, sad, and of course, weird.
11. **several seconds of near-silence, then bits of spooky noises, slow bluesy crawl. Instrumental with hauntings. Theremin wind noises for last 30 seconds.