Sunburned Hand of the Man

Late last year the Wabana label began a series of releases that reissued limited edition, vinyl-only live albums from some of modern day’s most vital experimental acts. Sunburned Hand of the Man is the third in that series (following equally vital reissues of records by Acid Mothers Temple and Wolf Eyes) and demonstrates these fabled psych-folk explorers at the height of their improvisational powers. Recorded at the band’s loft in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and originally released in an edition of 900 in the summer of 2003, this album opens with a ghostly funky bass line over which the ensemble add an array of wandering percussion and random psychedelia that never overshadows the track’s groove. The second track (none bear titles) takes a more perturbed stance, adding chanted and slurred vocals around the theme of war; the third is pure tribal stomping bliss and the album’s 18-minute closer is a trip into the eternal eye of chaos. This is a dependably satisfying introduction to a band that feed off their environment.