ALIVE AND WELL | The Deepsea Goes

ALL IS RIPE: The Los Angeles-based band, The Deepsea Goes, would find fine company with the likes of Iggy Pop — with gorgeous noise-rock tracks like 2007′s “Who’s Awesome Cans? Hers!” or “It Isn’t Gay If You Use a Condom” (2008). Those are the kind of songs you hear live, realize you’ve lost half your hearing, but not care because it was worth it. Both tracks end with bravado and schizophrenic tight-roping guitar. The Deepsea Goes could find it’s credo in their own song lyrics, “See the beauty in the way it burns now, into the ground.” In an age where chill, melody and harmony are the overly-abundant standard — The Deepsea Goes are here to remind us that there’s beauty in bedlam, dissonance and the heavy clunk. They’re not out to sooth your soul, but to shake the hell out of you, punch you in the gut, and kick you in the groin before throwing you out the door. If you go to their bandcamp site, you’ll find they’ve created an album’s worth of songs over the past two years, that slash and cut like the Sex Pistols. But their latest track, “All Is Ripe” (2010), takes a bit of an artistic turn, sounding like a cool cross between the sparse, playful electric guitar of Joy Division and the descending darkness of Bauhaus. It’s a relief to know that bands like The Deepsea Goes are out there still playing: Bands without phony artifice, playing their music to anyone who will listen. Doing it the old-fashioned way. – Words by David D. Robbins Jr.

The Deepsea Goes “All is Ripe” (2010)